Finally - A Stimulus Package

By Adonal Foyle

On Tuesday, February 17, President Barack Obama's $787 billion stimulus package was finally signed. Hopefully, this will help recover the economy and create millions of jobs.

The road to getting this stimulus package passed wasn't an easy one, though. The Republican opposition was nearly unanimous.

In one of his first speeches while in office, President Obama called for bi-partisanship and wants to put politics aside for the better of the American people. But what was remarkable about the economic stimulus bill was how quickly everything became partisan again.

Every economist across the board all agreed something needed to be done. The economy is so bad right now, doing nothing about it was not an option.

Although this package is supposed to help recovery the economy, nobody knows if this will work the way we all want it to work. It is designed to help create jobs and put people back to work. Tax cuts and/or stimulus checks simply would not have been enough for the American people.

For example, if people are given a $500 stimulus check, they will use it in a way a recessionary economy would use it - pay off bills and put the rest in the bank. A stimulus check is usually given so it can be spent back into the economy. But these days, people aren't thinking about spending money at all.

When things are going well, people normally don't think about saving. When things are bad, people are saving. So it's not necessarily true that when people are given stimulus checks, they will spend it right away.

So my point is people need jobs - people need to go back to work. And when President Obama said he wanted bi-partisanship in getting this bill passed - and immediately saw partisanship again - he took the issue straight to the American people. He told the people that those who opposed the bill weren't for reasons of morality, but reasons of politics.

What also caught my eye about this ongoing battle was these opponents of this bill couldn't empathize with those who are struggling without money or jobs. These Republicans all have money, homes and stable jobs. So they were making a fuss over money they don't have to worry about. So they aren't put in the same position as the average American.

Obviously, I would have liked to see this bill pass a lot sooner. Were there some issues that I thought should have stayed on the bill? Absolutely. Is it the perfect bill that represents everyone? Absolutely not. But at the end of the day, we needed something done to help get the country going again. And I think President Obama did that. It was interesting to see the frustration on President Obama's face, and to see how efforts of bi-partisanship just fell by the wayside and have politics take over again.