Using the research on the economy that you did for homework and the discussions we have had in class, please watch the following video clip and read the short article (links found below) to help you answer the following questions. Once you have done this, decide what you think could be the solution to our economic problems. Do you agree with President Obama’s economic stimulus package or do you think the government should do something else to help the economy? Please feel free to respond to your classmates’ comments.
Video Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#28842993
Article Link:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/28/politics/100days/economy/main4759742.shtml?tag=topHome;topStory
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I disagree with President Obama on the 825 billion stimulus plan. I believe that a portion of this money will be wasted on trivial things where if they had tax breaks all 825 billion dollars will go strait to the problem. I believe this because if they gave tax breaks people have only 3 options they can do with that extra money they can ether invest it, spend it, or save it where all three of those options would help the economy. I feel like this 825 billion dollar stimulus plan isn’t completely just to save the economy like they are saying it is for. I think it’s also for increasing the government’s size and for politician’s pet projects. I think this because if you look at this bill there is a lot of money going to the state and city governments and money going to the research in aids and even more where some of these things don’t help the economy at all. In conclusion tax breaks would be a better idea because it will just hit the problem of the economy.
ReplyDeleteLook I'll be the first one to admit that I don't know much about the whole stimulus package that Obama has planned out nor the other possible solutions perhaps already included in the stimulus on how to solve this major economic breakdown. Looking at it though it seems like Obama is heading in the right direction by wanting to solve this problem completely and not just postponing it for later years. Tax cuts are not what the economy needs because it only stalls the real issues. If there were an increase in tax cuts all people are going to do with that money is pay off their debt and I'm pretty sure no one would take a chance at investing it right now. Bottom line people don't know what to do with that money. Instead Obama is going to attempt to really turn the economy around by handing over the majority of the money over to state & city governments where it will still be up to them to use that money wisely.
ReplyDeleteI dont agree with the stimulus package because i think it's a waste of money. i think the money should go to creating jobs for people and that will help the economy better than this stimulus package. i also don't think this will work because people will only waste the money that they recive from the tax breaks and we will be right back where we started and out 825 billion dollars.
ReplyDeleteI support the stimulus package. Although tax cuts are important, it is also very important to give money to jobless benefits, food stamps, education, and other areas that the spending is going to support. I think the package is well balanced. Obama should consider what the republicans have to say and mold his new plan to their liking, while still maintaining most of his original ideas. I am glad that the president is already taking steps to improving the economy. Although this plan will not immediately erase all of the economic problems, it will illuminate a better future and the benefits will be seen eventually.
ReplyDeleteI don't know too much about Obama's stimulus package, or any of the other options in great detail, but watching the clip and reading the articles, it seems like a good step in the right direction. It is a lot of money, but considering how much Bush has spent on wars that have yet to solve anything, this plan and money is profitable to our country. I think that our population needs to recognize that the package isn't going to completely dissolve all of our economic hardship, just move us in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteFrom the video and the reading, I think that Obama's stimulus plan wouldtn' help the economy, but only worsen it. In the video, someone made a remark that if we had tax cuts, then the money we have left over, people will either invest the money or spend the money. I don't think that his stimulus plan will reach a lot of voters that agree with his plan. I think the best idea for the economy is to give tax cuts. This way people will be able to do what they want with the money and use it on the economy in a way that they want to. Either way it helps the econmy, and we won't need to follow through with Obama's stimulus plan.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone else, that I don't know very much about the stimulus plan, but I don't think that spending tons of money on unnecessary things is going to help anything. I think that this is a step in the right direction, but I do agree that President Obama is not including the Republicans very much. I think that both parties have equally good ideas and when they are put together it could solve this crisis that we are in. I'm not trying to say that spending money on new programs is such a bad thing, but the amount suggested is just too much. There should be tax cuts in the plan, as well as new programs. Both parties should put aside their differences and come together to help the American people.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with President Obama on the 825 billion dollar stimulus package. I don't think anyone can really grasp how big of a number that is. It's huge and is only going to put us more in debt. We already have a national debt of 9.1 trillion and adding to that only hurts us more. And how is cutting taxes for people and then spending 825 billion going to help anyone? It's adding to our debt. I think the solution to our problem is simply to get the government out of the solution. We always turn to the government in times of trouble and they never help. They were never meant to help with this kind of stuff. Huge stimulus packages like these only increase government size and power and that hurts people. The constitution doesn't allow for this kind of spending. The founding fathers never wanted to the government to be this huge. We became a great nation by having freedom and a free market. Big government didn't step in until before the great depression and big government is what lead us into the depression. The government helped us get into this recession, so why trust them to get us out? We need to cut spending, cut taxes and put the peoples money back in their pockets. That encourages spending and saving and that is what helps the economy. Not 825 billion spent on stuff like fixing up the National Mall. We need to let the free market work not the government. The free market has worked before and it's about time we realize the government just doesn't work well with these issues. I think we're in for rough times if Obama keeps pushing for this kind of reckless spending.
ReplyDeleteObama's plan is a perfect example of a phrase that Rush Limbaugh coined several years ago, during the Clinton Presidency. That term is "Symbolism over substance". This is a fancy way of saying, "talk is cheap". So far, that is Barack Obama, all talk. I think its too early in the game to see what the outcome is going to be. If Obama does what he says than we will have to just wait and see of the result. No one can ever really know what the future holds for us, so all we can do is just keep living and hope that everything goes into place and works out. That's all I have to say.
ReplyDeleteI do not agree with Obama's stimulus package. Although it is a step in the right direction I think that they should put more of the money towards creating new jobs. I think President Obama should have taken the republicans ideas into consideration seeing as not one republican voted for the bill in House. This plan has a a lot of pork, unnecessary programs that will grow the government but do little to help the economy. We all want the country to do well, but there are serious disagreements on how to get there. Both sides should be taken seriously and I am sure that both sides could learn things from the other that would benefit our country greatly.
ReplyDeleteLike others, I also don't know much about Obama's stimulus plan. I think that we should at least try it because what else is there to do?
ReplyDeleteAlthough I am kind of worried because Obama says it's going to get worse before it gets better, but how much worse?
In the Rocky Mountain News on Febuary 2, Robert J. Samuelson wrote "Unfortunatley, investing in tomorrow won't automatically stimulate the economy today." He then goes on to say that the $819 plan will only slowly provide stimulus.
I agree though that the economy isn't going to be a quick fix and this plan doesn't fully seem like a sussesful plan, but at least it's worth a try.
I don’t think that the $825 stimulus plan will help the economic situation because it will put us more in debt. I think what we need to do it create more jobs for people, instead of supporting people through welfare. They need to work for the money instead of just giving them it. The more people with jobs earning money, the more money they have to put back into the economy and this will help keep everything going. When nobody is spending money then everybody is suffering in the economy and there is no money flowing through the economy. So by creating more jobs it would simply create that money that can go around and eventually keep our economy going on a good note.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Levi with his whole out look of this situation. I think that we should use the money for better things such as jobs or paying people back so we dont end up in the same situation that we are in right now. Although i dont know alot about this but i think i might be right on this one
ReplyDeleteGiving the limited information that Obama had provided us it is real hard to agree or disagree with all the aspects of the $825 billion stimulus package plan. But given what I know I think that whoever receives these funds have to be held accountable for how the money is spent. This would mean that the government has to be involved in auditing these companies regularly. For example the financial institution and investment companies cannot continue to pay huge salaries to their upper management. Also, these funds should be treated as a loan that has to be repaid at some point in time to the government. The funds that are given to the states that will help rebuild the counties roads and bridges should create a large number of jobs. From what I have read there are supposed to be four million jobs created but there is no way to know for certain if these jobs were actually created by the stimulus package plan. I really do not look forward to having to pay more taxes because of some one else’s mistakes they made and profited from. It does not seem fair! It is hard to tell if this stimulus package is going to work but something has to be done now! The auto companies should be forced to file for chapter eleven reorganization which means reorganizing their debt and restructuring all union contracts, for example a bolt counter should not make forty five dollars an hour, but they are right now! At this point in time I do agree with Obama’s plan, but that might change until more information is known.
ReplyDeleteI believe that this stimulus plan will only delay the inevitable, our country has gone through a depression before, and it will soon go through one again. This stimulus package will give short-term jobs to people like rebuilding infrastructure, and building government vehicles; however, we will quickly realize this is only short term and can only do so much. We need to spend that money on long term things like alternative fuel and medical research there is to much small garbage we are concentrating on.
ReplyDeleteI am going to have to agree with the package that Obama has put forth. This package will hopefully go into companies help them stay a float. If this happens then it will prevent job loss. One of the most important things right now is to be able to keep the people working. If people are working, and know that they are not at risk of losing their job everyday then they will spend more money, in turn helping our economy stay a float, and hopefully get better. The Republicans plain of cutting taxes is a good idea too, but if people do not have a job then even with the tax cuts they will still not be spending money, because they will have no job witch means no money.
ReplyDeleteI don’t really think that we should be doing this whole economic stimulus package. We need to treat the root of the problem rather than just temporarily fixing it for 10 maybe 20 years. Through the years it has been proven that throwing money at a problem usually doesn’t fix it. I think we should ride it out so we can finally learn not to get in these situations rather than being bailed out. The lessons that stick with us the longest are the ones that we learn ourselves through their consequences. If any money is put towards fixing this problem it has to be for a specific purpose. I agree with most of the republicans on that there should be more tax breaks than spending. It seems that a lot of the spending will go towards helping people that are out of jobs because of the current economy. But aren’t they taken care of through welfare and unemployment programs? Giving more money to these people would only help if they had job. Without jobs the money is used for survival and any extra is saved, rather than used on unnecessary spending. Another thing we need to do with this money is renew the faith and confidence of the American people. If people are confident they spend money and thus it helps our economy.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I would like to draw attention to the following concept: The citizens of the United States of America created this economic problem for themselves, and will therefore have to rise up and defeat this recession of the late 2000s. Additionally, Obama is not the Messiah of America or the rest of the world, and never will be. When interviewing a world renown author, Daniel Pink, about his book, A Whole New Mind, I found out the following information: Daniel essentially stated that once the president sits down in control, he realizes what little power he really has. It is our duty as Americans to fix this problem, and we must start by doing everything we can in order to fulfill our duty and goal of a better economic standing. Furthermore, in his book, Daniel highlights the qualities of six characteristics that human beings will need to utilize in the Conceptual Age: Design, Empathy, Story, Play, Meaning, and Symphony. In the current era, it is even more important to use these, and to connect with our world and others around us.
ReplyDeleteIn a direct comment to Obama’s 825 billion dollar stimulus package, I believe that he needed to reshape his plan in order to involve more Republican viewpoints. That was his original plan in trying to change and alter our government. Also, according to the “2009 Recession Survival Guide,” by Kimberly Palmer , James Pethokoukis , Luke Mullins, Americans should do the following:
• Refinance your home.
• Save for a down payment.
• Energize your career.
• Buy a home.
• Look for the next great stock investment.
Perhaps with time and patience, Americans can turn things around.
I am going to agree with Obama on the stimulus package. I feel that the package has much potential and will turn out great. I like how the package is going to focus on the lower and middle classes because they need the most help in this economic crisis. I think that spending the money on more modern education is a good idea and putting money towards alternative energy research so we can reduce the dependency of foreign oil. I believe that the stimulus package has enough tax cuts and agree with taxing the rich more so than the lower and middle classes because the trickle down effect has proven uneffective. I also like how Obama is going to give a $500 tax credit to homeowners and cutting income-tax by $1,000 for each working family. Overall, I am going to agree and believe in the choices that President Barack Obama has and is going to make.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if I agree with Obama's plan or not, but all we can do it sit back and see what happens. He is the new president and I think what is important is that he is trying to help our country, and trying and failing, is a lot better than not trying at all. I think that it will put a lot of money into our economy, and most of it will be going to beneficial places that need it most.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the first part of nicoles's comment about how most of our economic instability has been coming from us, the citizens. There was a segment on TV talking about how American's aren't smart enough about our money, over half the country is in major credit card debt because we spend it, and then fail to realize we won't be able to pay it off later, increasing our debt even more. They also talked about how many people don't realize how many mortgage scams are sweeping our nation. If we want to get out of this economic crisis, it's going to take more than just the stimulus package, because that is just a push in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with trev r because I believe failing is no option when we are dealing with billions of dollars. But I do agree with him when he says that we do need to do something to help the economy I just don’t thing Obamas plan is the right one.
ReplyDeleteI do not agree on the stimulus package, i think of it more as a spending package. We rely too much on money to get us out of this funk rather than working on the economy and creating more jobs. We can spend money to help us all out but not as much as Obama is wanting to spend. Possibly with the money he spends, why not give it back out to the people, and not to spend it on so many "projects".
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting how many people disagree with this stimulus plan. Even the people who say the support it criticize it in some way. If there is no one who fully supports this plan how can we allow it to be passed? Watching the news lately I have heard that not even Obama fully agrees with what his own plan has evolved into. I personally think it is pathetic some of the things members of congress and the senate are slipping into this plan. They all supposedly want to help America but knowing that not every part of this dictionary sized plan will be read, they are slipping in things that won’t help America in the least but. Some additions that have been caught include but are not limited to: private fundraisers, refurnished living quarters, replacement of perfectly working office equipment, special interests, and extravagant bonuses. It’s estimated that pork barrel spending may exceed $250 million in this bill. I honestly think we should spend more time revising this plan so as to increase it effect, lessen the time of that effect, and lessen excess spending.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree with Nicole in that we, as an American people need to turn around the economy rather than relying on the government to do everything. Obama can only do so much, even as president. It will take a majority of the country to make a difference.
I believe that the stimulus package is only a short term solution. It will get products moving a bit, but the key to long term success is to sell these things. Exports. The more exports, the better. They are profitable, but more so they make jobs. The only trouble is making it cheaper here. When jobs go over sea, that job is gone because of it being cheaper. It gets hard to bring that job back without making it more profitable to have an American worker do it. This is where we need the government. Not in making the jobs, not wasting money, but defending jobs, keeping them here, not over there. Habeas Corpus works more successfully than Stimulus packages.
ReplyDeleteI don't know a lot about the stimulus package, but all I know is that President Obama is trying his hardest. I disagree with this stimulus plan, because it is not going to really help our society. I believe that since Obama is having the 825 billion dolllars made, that it won't do a thing. The people who are going to be getting this money are only going to save most of it. This is a good thing but bad because now that they have money they aren't going to spend it which will put businesses more under.
ReplyDeleteI believe the stimulus plan is a very good idea. At this time in our economic crash of 2009 we need a plan that will help p insure the future benefits and all of its causes. Society today knows that money is very hard to come by let alone trying to spend money also. Jobs are being lost to outsourcing and closed productions. So President Obama’s plan to use the 825 billion dollar stimulus packet can be a little questionable. As long as the stimulus plan resolves the problem head on then absolutely. But also help the millions of Americans with their own down slope. Then surely whoever controls and supervises the money better be putting it to this cause and that cause only. Otherwise I do agree with “Tiffany F.” along the lines that whoever receives the funds will be held accountable to how it is spent. Furthermore life is never fair and this economic crash is just one of those moments.
ReplyDeleteThis movie helped me make up my decision about everyone having equal opportunities. After watching this movie, I do not think that everyone has an equal opportunity. Once you grow up in that type of society it's hard to get out of it. Even when people do try to get out, they don't succeed. Like with the football guy, he had to drop out of college because he couldn't afford food or the lifestyles of everyone else. It's really sad to see that kind of society in our country but I don't think their is much of anything that the government or anyone can do. I mean lets say they build more company's for more jobs for people, that company or business isn't going to survive because no one can afford to go anywhere. Also that would be hard because no one has the right education to really do anything. That sounds kinda harsh but it's true, in a society like that the teachers just do their best to get them through high school. In a school like Arapahoe, the teachers challenge us to our limit and prepare us for a university college. So the football guy also dropped out because the work was overwelming.
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