Stimulus: How stimulating is it?

Nearly 6 million people are unemployed as the sun goes down today. More than 500,000 jobs have been created since the beginning of this year. The GOP is saying, "that's not enough".

Eric Cantor, a leading GOP Senator says that there is about 600 billion dollars of stimulus yet to be spent but seeing that only half a million people are back to work due to the stimulus, the program needs to be stopped and all the money returned to the treasury.

All cities around the country that are making plans to start or complete projects with stimulus money would be asked to stop what they are doing and figure something else out. Those unemployed getting extended funds would be told that, due to Eric and the GOP, they will no longer be getting unemployment checks.

Oh, if you are a worker that is back to work because of a stimulus funded project, "fuggedaboutit", the GOP is pulling funding and you will be back on the streets without income or unemployment checks. If your city has bridge falling into the river, let it fall because that money you were depending on to fix that bridge--well the GOP is putting an end to your plan.

Remember that the President originally wanted more than a trillion dollars in the stimulus bill. The GOP fought back and he settled for 700 billion dollars. A nearly 30% cut. Remember the "cash for clunker program", the GOP cut that originally requested 4 billion to 1 billion, then they had to back track due to popularity of the program and pass a bill to re-fund the program another 2-billion dollars.

The Wall Street Journal, a typically conservative newspaper, reported that economists are saying that the 3% growth we saw in the economy last quarter was due to stimulus funded initiatives. Further, they say if not for the stimulus, growth would have been at zero percent.

The first quarter of this year the GDP fell at 6.4%, during the second quarter it fell only 1% and now we are seeing a 3% growth in GDP. What has caused this to be so dramatic? There are four reasons. First, the bank bailout. Second, Tarp. Third, the stimulus package. Fourth, new regulation efforts including oversight and market to market rule changes.

In essence, these factors are leading to the stock market to climb out from the hole it fell into. Job creation, though small is getting bigger. Retraction of the economy is slowed and there is a report out that large companies are hiring again.

It's not the stimulus alone that is accounting for some of the good news in the economy but it is playing a pivotal role. When you hear people complain about bank bailouts and TARP keep in mind that those were programs started by the previous administration and you don't hear Eric Cantor complaining about them, do you? But the stimulus for ordinary citizens to go back to work, a Democratic initiative for building and fixing things, that's different. For some reason, the GOP considers that program to be a crime.

While we have not seen all the TARP money returned, we are seeing some positive cash flow from some of those loans. Of the money that has been paid back, the Federal Reserve reports that interest on those loans have included 14-billion dollars in interest.

Is it all good news? Of course not--not yet anyway. But for a Senator and other GOP members to call for the stimulus to be halted and money put back into the treasury is just "tomfoolery".

It doesn't hurt the GOP Senators to call for a halt to the stimulus, they have jobs. It only hurts Americans who are going back to work for an honest day's pay on projects that are good for this country. For the first time in a long time they have the ability to feed their families and provide a lifestyle that get's injected back into the economy.

Now, that's stimulating!

Tomorrow: Time to Jump Ship?