Stimulus?

by Kakofonous

The stimulus (or "recovery", as Politico notes) package has been the first major test of Obama's promise of bipartisanship, and it seems rather the worse for it. The package is doubtfully one for stimulus—many of the programs for which it provides funds are unlikely to enter the economy quickly. To me, it seems more like a catch-all list of earmarks that Obama and his Democratic colleagues have pent up in his years under the Bush administration, rather than a plan to jumpstart the economy. And sure, many of these projects are needed for our country. But how should we go about doing it?

In his weekly address, Obama stresses that the initiatives he promised on the campaign trail (green energy, repairing infrastructure, etc.) will be achieved (or begun) using stimulus funding to create the jobs to start them, which, presumably will start a chain reaction from employment to money in the bank to money being used to buy things.

The bill itself (specifically this version) stated its goals thus:

1. To preserve and create jobs and promote economic recovery.
2. To assist those most impacted by the recession.
3. To provide investments needed to increase economic efficiency by spurring technological advances in science and health.
4. To invest in transportation, environmental protection, and other infrastructure that will provide long-term economic benefits.
5. To stabilize State and local government budgets, in order to minimize and avoid reductions in essential services and counterproductive state and local tax increases.

Seems like a rather expansive list of goals for a bill that should be about jumpstarting the economy. The bill's name gives away its intent—"The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009". Apart from some clever language manipulation on the part of Obama and his political team, this name suggests an all-encompassing pot of money to be divvied up among government agencies, not necessarily to get the economy moving. So I question whether or not this is in fact a stimulus package. To be sure, we need all the "reinvestment" we can get, but not before our economy is out of the rut.