When President Obama took office, he signed a $787 Million Stimulus Bill to stimulate the economy out of recession and get money back to the people to spend. I truly believe the President meant well, but the Stimulus Package created a $12 Trillion dollar debt, which equates to $39,000 for every man, woman and child in America. Our country is in so much debt; however, nobody in Washington seems concerned about this. Just because they can, they started the printing presses at the Federal Reserve and just printed the dollars they needed.
These dollars were given to people in the forms of tax breaks, Cash for Klunkers, $8,000 for first time home buyers, etc., hoping to stimulate industries that needed it the most. The stock market benefited as well from the influx of printed money. As a result, a bubble was “created” to change the “Bear” market so investors wouldn’t panic and get out of the market completely. Did you think the gains last year were for real? Heavens no! They were created.
When President Obama signed the Stimulus Package into law, I’m sure he didn’t create it by himself. I’m sure his advisers encouraged him. If he felt that this package was going to turn the economy around and keep unemployment below 8%, per Congressman Sensenbrenner’s Newsletter-November 2009 – January 2010. The President hoped to put Americans back to work and keep unemployment figures from going above 8%. His heart was in the right place, but he was definitely misguided.
Congressman Sensenbrenner felt that if the President had continued to focus on the economy after he signed the Stimulus Package into law, perhaps things would not have gotten so out of hand. Instead of focusing on the crippled economy, President Obama turned his attention to health care reform and pushing cap- and -tax legislation that managed to spend $800 billion to reduce global temperatures minutely. The Congressman believes that America will suffer as a result of these misguided priorities.
To tell you the truth, I was unaware that President Obama had spent so much money trying to reduce global temperatures. As important as global warming is to the world, I think we need to focus on our severely ailing economy. There are so many people unemployed right now. We need to increase the manufacturing of goods and create new services to decrease unemployment. Putting millions of people back to work should be priority one right now. The focus needs to be on the private sector. Everything else can be prioritized when the economy starts holding its own.
Right now, we have dug ourselves an enormous “debt” hole that will be difficult to climb out of. We need to take an enormous amount of money out of circulation to let the economy get back on its feet. Unfortunately, there are so many dollars out there, the Fed will have to start raising interest rates to start reeling in the extra dollars. What then? If taxes are raised, Congressman Sensenbrenner feels that the country will be thrown from the recession to a “depression.” That happened to President Herbert Hoover many years ago.
I’m not going to get into a political discussion here, but from Congressman Sensenbrenner’s point of view, the Democrats are stifling the economy with government programs. Political rhetoric doesn’t really get us anywhere, but it makes for interesting reading. We have gotten to the point where something has to be done about the high unemployment rate. If we can get people back to work, the economy may begin to straighten itself out.
People are so concerned about their futures, that they are being very careful with their money in the present. We can’t keep spending what money we do have to artificially stimulate the economy. Saving is more important right now than spending. As a result of people saving their money, apparently President Obama is talking about another stimulus package. We cannot afford another $787 billion stimulus package with the amount of debt we are in right now. The government needs to start taking responsibility for its actions.
A person would not be allowed to get into so much debt. Credit card companies are diligent when they wan their money. When they don’t get their money, a person feels it immediately in his or her credit score. The government is allowed to carry an enormous amount of debt. No one seems to care that the government is carrying $12 Trillion in debt. This is totally outrageous in my book. The government must stop this spending spree before the United States loses its economic status with the other countries in the World. We definitely don’t need that type of humiliation.
The President should not be allowed to spend billions of dollars without a plan to pay it back. If government debt instruments are lucrative investments, then we should all benefit by earning the interest payments. Actually foreign governments are investing in America’s debt. Investing in our government’s debt is one way to benefit in this recession; however, it is much more important for the government to become fiscally responsible and stop spending money we don’t have. No more money needs to be minted to create artificial bubbles of economic health, especially in the stock market.
I have to say that everything I’m telling you is documented as real and true. We have a long way to go before the economy is back on its own track. The economy has been so artificially stimulated, it will take us years to break even-if that is even possible, I don’t know. The government needs to start saving money instead of spending it as soon as it comes off the presses (so to speak). We need to cut back on our own personal spending to the point of buying only the necessities.
The people are doing the best they can to get by one day at a time by saving their hard earned money for emergencies. Everyone is cutting back, trying not to spend what they don’t have. The government should do the same thing. Our government needs to stop spending money it doesn’t have in order to become fiscally responsible. Until that happens, our economy will be chasing its proverbial tail.
I hope this article has elicited feelings in you. If you have any questions or concerns, please write them in the comments section. If I don’t know the answer to your questions, I will get answers from my colleagues at work. At any rate, please let me know what you think.
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