Obama: Stimulus Bill Saved Troubled Economy

source: www.google.com...

Don't shoot the messenger, this is what has been reported.

So, how are you all doing out there? Still got a job? Got a place to live? If you have, apparently this stimulus has helped you. If not, well, he tried.

So if he did not do this, there would have been a deep depression instead of a recession? I look around at all the closed businesses where I live and I think, if this isn't a depression, I don't know what is.

Sure they don't show the lines of people at charities trying to get food. Or trying to get help to pay the bills, but I am sure they are out there.

From what I understand, all the first part of the stimulus did was plug holes in state budgets. A stop gap measure to keep states from being forced to lay off thousands of employees.

But the question remains. did it help?

(Awaits the obligatory hate Obama posts and professional Obama bashers to wreak havoc on this thread.)

I think it probably did help. I think we'd be a lot worse off without it. That's just my opinion.

My husband still has his job, we still have our home and are doing fine. I know some are suffering. I see it around our town. But I think it would be worse if there had been no stimulus. He said it wouldn't fix everything and that it would still be hard. But I don't know of anyone who has lost their job. Some are living in tighter circumstances, but I actually think it's good that everyone isn't charging everything to the hilt. That's a positive outcome of this situation.

We. the people, have to take responsibility for our part in creating this recession.

The major problem now is as he stated in his speech "now that the states are running out of the stimulus money more jobs may be on the line". So does this mean that they are going to have to do a second stimulus package to keep all the state and local governmental jobs afloat? I think this is all far from over. If it's true that the only recovery is due to the stimulus then what happens when the stimulus money is gone? Tragedy far from averted IMO!

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
I think it probably did help. I think we'd be a lot worse off without it. That's just my opinion.

My husband still has his job, we still have our home and are doing fine. I know some are suffering. I see it around our town. But I think it would be worse if there had been no stimulus. He said it wouldn't fix everything and that it would still be hard. But I don't know of anyone who has lost their job. Some are living in tighter circumstances, but I actually think it's good that everyone isn't charging everything to the hilt. That's a positive outcome of this situation.

We. the people, have to take responsibility for our part in creating this recession.

BH, you know I respect you and wouldn't presume to debate otherwise, but since the stimulus my wife has lost her job, I will lose my home, and amazingly despite the decline in household income, I now OWE the IRS for the first time in 15-years.

Yeah, I can't say the 'stimulus helped my life at all.

I hope things get better soon.... really.

[edit on 17-2-2010 by Maxmars]

The only thing that the stimulus help was the financial institutions and the fat rats.

The rest of America is still falling into decay. . .

Personally, I don't think anything done by Obama or the Senate/Congress is going to help much. One big problem is that Pre 9/11 banks were giving 18 year old kids with no income credit cards. All this did was ruin their credit rating. It's a buyer's market now, and all those who DIDN'T buy into the happy birthday credit card have a pretty good chance at buying. Problem there is they are scared to take the chance. I'm currently seeing this in real time in my community. Landlords who have the right idea are buying up homes left and right. Heck, they buy them as soon as they go on the market. Now anyone who understands rentals can verify this:

Buy a nice sized house, turn it into 2 apartments for maybe a $5,000 to $10,000 investment, and charge the entire monthly cost of the mortgage/renovations (or more) as rent. you double your money.

There's a 2 family house across from my job, $119k, mortgage with taxes/insurance is roughly $850/month. They are charging $850/month no utilities included 9except water/sewer) They are making money hand over fist.

The market is perfect for a buyer, and if you can afford your rent, you can afford to own. I pay $550 for a 2 bedroom with nothing included, I'm approved for an $80k mortgage. Plus local/state/federal grant money and first time buyer financing. There are allot of houses here under $100k. I'm hoping to be in one by june.

That's my opinion anyway. Wanna kill this recession? Take a chance and buy a house. With it being a buyer's market and land values almost always rising, it's a sound investment and you'll most likely pay less than your rent (If you research well)

It hasn't helped me or my family.

2nd line

reply to post by Maxmars


I'm so sorry! I hope things get better for you really soon!

Unfortunately, there are people who are suffering in these times. I don't deny that. As I said, I see it here, too. My point was not to suggest that everything is fine. Not at all. We have seen a financial problem coming for quite some time. We've been discussing it here (and we've been preparing for it) for the past few years. My point was to say that I think it would have been worse without the stimulus. Many who still have jobs (maybe us) would be in the same position.

Good luck to you!

To be fair, Obama didn't say that the stimulus saved a troubled economy. That's just the sensationalism. He knows everything's not peachy keen.

Originally posted by freedomataprice
It hasn't helped me or my family.

How do you know? Do you have a job? A home? Internet access? How do you know you would still have these things if it weren't for the stimulus?

I was against it, too. And I'm certainly against stuffing the pockets of the fat cats, marg. But I can't say what would have happened without the stimulus. None of us can.

reply to post by Maxmars


The stimulus helped state employees and that's about it.
It's just a slush fund.
The economy will go from bad to worse this year.
Throwing away ObamaCare and Cap & Trade would remove the
dark cloud over small businesses across America.
They may start hiring again.
Think about it.

The company I work for is on it's way out because we just can't afford to operate in this economy any longer. We are hoping to get bought out by a much larger company and hopefully i'll still have a job.

This time last year we were flourishing. Call it bad luck, mismanagement or stimulus gone wrong but it all boils down to a lot more stress for me and the other 150 people here with an uncertain future.

[edit on 17-2-2010 by Anjin]

Although I still have a job, and face little risk of losing same, my income has declined aprox 15% due to being furloughed (I work for the State of California).


When the stock market tumbled back in 2008, I was one of those who declared it to be the opening shot in what could be called an "Economic World War".

It was my conjecture that the economic turmoil we were witnessing was the direct result of an attack upon the infrastructure of the West's economy. The US had been directly responsible for the collapse of the former Soviet Union's economy, having forced the USSR into a crushingly expensive Cold War arms race in the Eighties. The cost of that race destroyed the Soviet economy, and consequently, the Soviet Union itself (as a political entity).


Some of us recognized that the disaster in '08 was Russia's long planned response to the blow she endured twenty years earlier at the hands of the US.

Tit for Tat; sweet revenge...in kind.

Now, apparently, the former head of the Fed, Henry Paulson is postulating the same idea.

Although the so-called "Fat Cat Bankers" on Wall Street might have facilitated what can only be described as an attack on America, by way of her economic underpinnings, the actual source of that attack was, in fact, a foreign power.


However, in recognition of the horror of war, especially a war between arguable "Super Powers", it seems that a decision was made at the top levels of government to refrain from escalating the tensions resulting from this attack to their expected conclusion; a military response resulting in an actual "shooting war".

The leaders of the US instead, responded to the immediate damage to the nation's economy by implimenting the now (in)famous "bailout plan". If we are to believe what we hear, not many of those responsible for approving the plan much cared for it; but almost all of thsoe who did approve the plan 's implimentation now say that it was the only way to avoid an even more disasterous hit to the US economy.


Other than Mr. Paulson, no recognized official has yet to come out and state what I beleive to be the Real situation facing the US, and by extension the Western world: We are at War, real, actaul, OMG! War.

Whether the powers that be will be able to keep this war to a war of paper rather than guns and bombs, remains to be seen; historically such has not been the case. At this time, it is most certain that no one knows whether the blow the US suffered in '08 will prove to be a mortal blow or not. Our leaders are, as would be expectred, doing everthing in their powers to portray a strong and positive face to the public.

(At this time, I hate to say it, but I sincerly doubt that we can put much faith in the "Economic Recovery" messages we are hearing from the MSM. If this be war, remember one of the first casualties of war, any war, is the Truth.)


I beleive that, by focusing the public's ire at a few Wall Street-types, the public is being diverted from the real nature of our crisis, that we are under attack as a nation. This diversion is serving to "buy time". I see the nation's political leaders as attempting to "buy time" to formulate and impliment non-military responses to attack; while at the same time dealing with the true devastation the attack has caused.


Their fear, and this includres President Obama, is that if the public should start to suspect that the true source of the nation's troubles could be sourced to a foreign power, such as Russia or China, the public would demand a military response, vis-a-vis the response to the events of 9/11.

WWIII could be but a slippery slope away in that scenario.

reply to post by Anjin


What kind of business is your company in?

Originally posted by Eurisko2012
reply to post by Maxmars

 

The stimulus helped state employees and that's about it.

Not the state where I live. I know because I am also a state employee. Many of us have already received 8 hour/month furloughs and that may be increased to 10 hours/month. Plus, pay cuts and benefit cuts are being seriously discussed.

Part of that we do blame directly on obama because he has several times trashed the city of Las Vegas in speeches with the result that some took it to heart and cancelled large conventions shortly after his comments. Those comments started a cascade effect through the state's economy. Even more amazing that obama would make those comments when you consider how Senator Reid has made himself obama's lapdog for so many of obama's agenda items. So much for loyalty in the obama administration, eh?

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


Which stimulus do you think helped the nation? The one passed by Bush or the one passed by Obama?

Oh, wait, let me guess! The one passed by Obama of course, right? The one passed by Bush didn't do squat to help the nation because it was passed by the most hated administration since Carter.

Partisan shill.

This is the reason that Obama and the democrats are speeding off the cliff on the way to November. As long as he keeps soft shoeing the public, and telling lies.

Originally posted by marg6043
The only thing that the stimulus help was the financial institutions and the fat rats.

The rest of America is still falling into decay. . .

What about the reports that the amount spent on the stimulus would have paid off 90% of the mortgage loans in the U.S.?

Think about it. Instead of sending it to financial institutions and the having it disappear into who knows where, we pay off most people's home loans.

What would that have gained for us instead?

- more money for consumers to put back into the economy to help avoid the recession

- people keep spending so businesses don't need to do layoffs

- taxes keep coming in to governments so they aren't hurting

- no foreclosures, so people keep their homes.

- no bank failures over the bad loans


And the downside would have been?

[edit on 2/17/2010 by centurion1211]

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
*SNIP* But I can't say what would have happened without the stimulus. None of us can.

Excellent point and one of the reasons I consider the stimulus package to be a huge waste of money and nothing more than a bill of sale written to the US taxpayer by an overspending, out of touch adminsitration.

We were told that "without the stimulus, unemployment rates would climb above 8%" Hmmm... last I saw they climbed well past 8% with this stimulus. In my opinion, we'd have gotten the same stimulus effect from giving every taxpayer a feather and a small mirror in a private room. That's just my opinion, just as it's only the adminsitration's opinion that the stimulus package did anything aside from add to the federal deficit. It was based on a carefully selected, unquantifiable result. Sans the abillity to accurately predict the future, it is impossible to say where we'd be today without that stimulus package... except that we can safely say we'd have $700 billion less against our federal debt. A risk was weighed that enough of the American people would trust the government's ascertion that this package actually had merit and benefits that they could get away with creating an omnibus spending bill in the name of stimulus.

For the record, I work in an industry (Civil Engineering) that should by all account see a tangible benefit from this stimulus package thanks to the shovel ready project portion of the bill. I've seen our agency contracts collapse instead, with our only growth sectors being in out of the way regions and with private funded projects (thus I moved within my company to one of those out of the way locations.) If people on the front lines of government spending aren't seeing improvements following the stimulus bill, I think it's safe to say it's effects have been grossly overstated at best.

reply to post by whatukno


Just to be clear, those 2 million jobs, how are they counting them?

Link to original source: www.bloomberg.com...

and link to thread already on ATS about the specific issue of tracking jobs:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

basically what the government has said is they are not actually tracking the jobs the stimulus funds have created, no even if you work for a company that got one dollar of stimulus money, and your job was never at risk for being cut, you have a job saved or created by the stimulus package!

and its still only two million!!!

Originally posted by Fromabove
This is the reason that Obama and the democrats are speeding off the cliff on the way to November. As long as he keeps soft shoeing the public, and telling lies.

The American people want solutions not excuses.
Blame Bush = James Carville