Obama’s Stimulus Package: Spending Money to Make Money
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about our economy lately. It’s kind of inevitable, considering the straits we’re in.
Obama is working really hard to get Republicans in line behind his recent stimulus package. And it’s a hard fight to win. I’ve heard talk around the water cooler that they’re not too into spending.
To his credit, Obama and his think tank have clearly put a lot of thought into the measure. The 13 page summary of the stimulus package clearly lays out where Obama wants to spend this money, and the reasoning behind each and every expenditure. Although the immediate purpose of the package is to increase spending to create jobs, it appears that the long term investments will save money and generate income.
Below are the seven core goals of the stimulus package, as well as a few highlights of each.
- Modernize our Energy Systems. $11 billion to create a more efficient energy grid, $6.2 billion to help weatherize low-income homes, and $8 billion to create new sources of renewable energy.
- Fund needed improvements to Science and Technology. $6 billion will be invested in expanding access to broadband Internet, of which the stimulus package claims “for every dollar invested in broadband the economy sees a ten-fold return on that investment”
- Improve and Create Better Transit Options. Obama wants to spend $30 billion on highway and bridge construction projects, and a measly $10 billion on mass-transit options. Of course, I live in the city where mass transit is viable. The majority of this country is not a city.
- Reemphasizing Education. $20 billion dedicated to technology and energy upgrades in schools, and another $1 billion in computer and science labs, as well as trainings for teachers who don’t understand 1337 speak. $16 billion will be dedicated to student loans, to assist those who have gone back to school after failing to find employment.
- Lower Health Care Costs. $20 billion to create electronic medical records, $3 billion to promote preventative care, $1.5 billion to expand Community Health Centers to provide care to the uninsured, and $600 million to train new doctors to “prepare our country for universal healthcare“.
- Provide Relief to the Unemployed. $27 billion to extend unemployment benefits, $30.3 billion to extend COBRA to those losing their work-sponsored insurance, and $4.2 billion to help low-income communities purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed properties.
- Save Public Employees. $120 billion to school districts to prevent tax increases on the middle class without laying off teachers.
After reading through the entire package, I’m impressed. There’s not a single line I’d disagree with, although even I’m a little nervous about the price. I’ve always maintained a strange fanaticism with mathematics, but I can’t even begin to imagine what $550,000,000,000 dollars would look like.
If you’re making Washington’s minimum wage of $8.55, it would take you 64.3 billion hours to make this money. If that number’s too big to picture, how about 7.3 million years. Better hope Starbucks offers overtime….
Ok, those numbers are scary. Perhaps it’ll help to put it in perspective with our population of 305,697,065. If each of us footed an equal share, it’d be a one time payment of $1,799. Shit, that’s a months mortgage. I’d gladly pay up.