Throughout this past week President Obama has campaigned for an economic stimulus package. Obama and his administration see fit that some type of catalyst will dramatically impact our troubling economy. When speaking in terms of a “stimulus package” most people interpret that millions of dollars will magically fall out of the sky into the tax-payers’ pockets. Unfortunately this is not the case, and considering the amount of money proposed to be spent this issue isn’t something we can take lightly. In the article “Trade-Offs in the Stimulus Package” Madison Powers of CQ Politics is trying to convey to America that though we are in need of some sort of economic stimulus passed in the Senate, what is more imperative is how we plan to spend $789 Billion dollars effectively. In other words we need an infrastructure of checks and balances that clearly outline the ways our government plans to rejuvenate our economy with these funds. Step by step.
With all this being said it becomes obvious that every single American’s need won’t be met, and there are many major trade-offs to spending $789 billion dollars of tax-payers’ money. For one, the efficiency factor of the spending certainly raises a huge question mark. With conspiracy clouding the impressions of our members of congress, how can Americans ensure that our interest will stay in the heads of our government official’s minds? How can we be confident that we will end up with a secure economic system in which we get the “most bang for the buck”? Powers states that the proposed $789 Billion does not only need to be spent in the major banks and corporate businesses. The funds should also spread to our small businesses, small banks, lower and higher levels of education, and job security programs-at the state and local levels. The second trade-off to the stimulus package is whether or not spending this much money will balance out with the base structure of the capitalistic American economy. Which means if we can’t set up a solid infrastructure to coincide with the spending then this stimulus won’t guarantee the results.
Madison Powers sums up the article by stating that spending the nearly $1 trillion dollars in small sectors will hopefully ensure long-term economic stability instead of a quick fix for the years to come. I somewhat agree with the article in respect to making sure the government designs a system of checks and balances that will keep the population confident that this money doesn’t go to waste. It is clear that we must come up with some type of plan to allocate the $789 billion in a precise way that will affect the economy as a whole and promote financial security in the U.S.
