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Has the Stimulus Package directly affected you?
Besides giving CEOs large bonuses at taxpayer expense, helping banks buy up asets on the cheap and shore up their balance sheets, bailed out a few major companies and pretended to help mortgages, what has the Stimulus Package done for you?
Take our live poll.
I must fall under every exception to eligibility for any form of stimulus package assistance, so I wondered how many more like me are there?
#1 - Mon Jun 22, 2009 8:37 PM EDTThe stimulus package has definitely had an impact on me.....higher taxes! My federal income taxes has increased by about 12% since the Obama/Clinton/Clinton-Rodmand administration took over. I haven't received a pay raise nor have I moved into a higher or lower tax bracket. My accountant told me to expect it to increase another 2 to 3% in the next few months.
#2 - Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:14 PM EDTFunny...my taxes have decreased, and though I didn't receive raise this year, I blame that on what was already well underway when the stimulus passed.
This is a loaded, misleading question. Some of the stimulus package funding was designed to keep public services available that would otherwise have been discontinued at the federal, state, and municipal level, and to help prevent people who provide those services from losing their jobs.
So you would not notice any difference in your lives, and THAT IS EXACTLY THE POINT!
#3 - Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:47 PM EDTKeep in mind that the TARP and the stimulus package were two separate pieces of legislation.
The only effect I can see is is that the indebtedness of my household to the government has increased. This nonsense is immoral. We have an irresponsible government getting us in this mess in the first place (don't start the democrat vs. republican rant on this...they're both to blame) then are indebting future generations to pay for their commitments to corporate interests and the boondoggles they finance to buy votes. A line form Sanford and Son fits them perfectly... "Promise'm the elevator and give'm the shaft".
#4 - Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:56 PM EDTThe stimulus package has had an impact on me, with higher taxes and more to come.
Soon I will be able to have my company file for bankrupcy and hope for a bailout, oh wait a minute, those bailouts are for the big companies.
When we tried to get a energy grant to hire almost 1,000 people we were told we were not big enough. So we are now going to lay off about 4,200 people and hope that we will survive long enough to obtain a grant. Without the grant we will have to close our doors and put another 3,800 people out of work.
The grant we had asked for was to purchase new equipment and all we needed was another 2.5 to 3 million dollars to get the rest of the funding for the equipment.
Thank all the politicians for this if you see one.
#6 - Mon Jun 22, 2009 10:12 PM EDTWhen our bank was bailed out, we received notice that our loan rates would go up unless we would pay them in full within 30 days. We did!
The stimulus package was for green energy and jobs, but we were told by our senator and congressmen that it was only for GE, and not a small business.
We thought we were a little bigger than most companies with over 8,000 employees?
I guess it is who you know, and not who you are or what you do.
We have been talking to England who wants us to move there, so maybe we will go.
I hate thinking about it.
My wife and I are about to receive $8,000 from the federal government as first time homebuyers. Not only is this helping the real estate market recover, but it also is likely to be returned back to the economy in the form of home improvements. Even if I wasn't directly benefitttng from it, I still think I'd believe this was a good part of the stimulus program.
#7 - Mon Jun 22, 2009 10:47 PM EDTThat's great eco-geek...not to rain on your parade, but a couple of questions:
1. Was the home you bought owned by the bank?
2. If not, did the homeowners selling it to you lose money?
Truly just curious...the effects of what is hurting current homeowners is largely getting masked so truly want to know...
...and to your question estela on if it's directly helped me...nope
Lisa -
The home I purchased was not owned by a bank. It was purchased about a year ago by a couple who renovates older homes and then sells them. They bought this house to renovate it before the bottom fell out of the real estate market. Still, I believe they made at least a small profit on the sale of the house.
That $8000 is being used by the young couple to buy my Old Cincinnati Home. Under the new (and more rational) lending guidelines banks are imposing on themselves they can barely afford it.
A few weeks ago both sides walked away from the table. Then though the course of refinancing down to less than 5% I realized that they most likely also had a lock around 5% and things have jumped back to 6%. The difference between 5% and 6% is huge and I don't see it getting back to there during the summer selling season. So we took a deeper loss but both sides should be better for it.
They get to have a nice affordable place and possible a profit a few years down the road. I save time and after I pay off the loss, save expenses.
We started this two house thing last July wanting to market a clean house minus the 2 kids, 2 cats, and dog. Then the stack of cards which is financial sector collapsed. This whole experience was like being told to be careful driving during a snow storm and actually getting stuck in a ditch in a car during the blizzard. At this point I think I heard the tow truck, the snow is still coming down pretty hard. Good luck to everyone else, we all still have much digging to do.
So, that story combines the $8000 part of stimulus, the keeping credit available of Tarp, and the financial manipulation of the Fed on interest rates. It also hearkens the oncoming specter of inflation partially caused by all those actions.
I'm betting eco-geeks' sellers either took a loss, or they purchased foreclosed home a year ago as speculators/flippers...someone got hurt in the deal, we just don't know their story
Based on discussions with the sellers, I'm pretty sure they didn't take a loss. I know they bought the house fairly cheap, but I don't know that it was a foreclosure either. I've seen some pictures before they renovated it...it was a mess. They just did a great job with the renovations, and did a lot of the work themselves.
The little extra bump in payroll checks started about a week before I was laid off, and I haven't seen a payroll check since.
The banks won't do business with me, in spite of decent credit.
I could probably buy a vehicle, but I just refuse to do so. Gas prices are too unpredictable, and income is far too low to risk on such a large investment.
#8 - Mon Jun 22, 2009 11:55 PM EDTThe stimulus has helped me in a big way. You see with all the spending I can now know there wont be any money left for Social Security and Medicare when I am eligible in 5 years. I feel much better now:)
#10 - Tue Jun 23, 2009 1:05 AM EDTYou need another line on your survey... a line for jobs provided by stimulus.
I know several building contractors who have been out of work for several months--up to a year in some cases. The stimulus is starting to provide projects that result in work for these contractors. More indirectly, people are starting to build homes again (no building for at least 6-8 months from about October 2008)...so things are definitely looking up for my contractor friends. They are all starting to be optimistic again.
And of course, for each of these jobs for a small-business contractor, there are several employees getting work as well.
#11 - Tue Jun 23, 2009 1:43 AM EDTNo problem -
I believe that the stimulus package is not a "magic pill" that is going to make everything better right away. However, I believe our present and future circumstances (economy-wise) would have been much worse without it.
Some things that people may want to consider is the financial state of the company they work for. My company for instance has cash reserves and was criticized before the collapse for not using it on expansion like the competitors.
If your company borrows to make payroll and your still employeed then the Tarp saved your job for all of the ills of that program.
If your unemployed the extended unemployment compensation has to be helping.
If your in a bigger metropolitan area some of your police, teachers, and firefighters may still be on payroll because of the stimulus. Here we are too small and too far from the state capital. It's mainly been roads but in may be more down the line.
Goverment is like plumbing, you only notice it when something breaks that effects you and when you pay the bill.
#12 - Tue Jun 23, 2009 10:06 AM EDTEven though energy and other commodity prices have risen recently, the Fed said inflation will remain "subdued for some time." This new language sought to ease Wall Street's concerns that the Fed's aggressive actions to revive the economy will spur inflation later on.
The Fed also decided to maintain existing programs intended to drive down rates on mortgages and other consumer debt. Instead, the central bank again reserved the right to make changes if economic conditions warrant. NYT 6/24/09
I read this in the Times today. I think it speaks directly to the issues discussed here. The Fed has the "big picture" approach, which has done very little to either incentivizing bank into lending or relieve individual situations.
Economists predict the economy is sinking in the April-June quarter but not nearly as much as it had in the prior six months, which marked the worst performance in 50 years. The economy is contracting at a pace of between 1 and 3 percent, according to various projections.
Fed policymakers said its forceful actions, along with President Barack Obama's stimulus of tax cuts and increased government spending will contribution to a "gradual "return to economic growth.
How much water can you tread?
#13 - Wed Jun 24, 2009 4:02 PM EDTThere are already a few signs of inflation. Some of this is coming from the higher cost of producing less. Some of it is market speculation. Having the Fed do more could create more inflation.
They actually need to create inflation...and Wall Street? They should quit catering to them at all...it's just not a viable and consistent economic indicator anymore. What they should be paying attention to is foreclosure numbers, job losses, and bank insolvency
Since I am a fellow bovine amidst the churgling herd of the blue collar workin class unemployed I'd have to state unequivocally that the stimulus package has done diddly squat for me and my compadres.
Heck, I was kinda sorta hoping for a WPA style program that would put fine craftsmen and artists to work. Of course, being a fine craftsman and visual artist my hopes were utterly self absorbed in nature. Thankfully there is no law, as of yet, against being dolefully self absorbed. And, since it is a hard ride beyond grim out here I can forgive myself for being somewhat cynical and completely self serving in my rumination.
It also has the appearance of being a ploy to prop up an already inherently unjust and corrupt economic system. Once all this shakes out, the dust settles and folks get back to bidness as usual I do not expect to see any shift of power or monies within our caste system. I would imagine that the solidification of power and wealth within the tiny percent that encompasses the New Age of Robber Barons will only become more concrete. It is also my opinion that labor and craft will be left in an even more untenable and precarious position with the only option left to use the labor movement of the turn of the century as our inspiration to rattle the suits. Whadda I know though?
Anyhow, the entire trickle down scenario yapped about since the Raygun Era never seemed to be anything other than that. A hard sell of Gumbo Ya Ya. This appears, to this economic no nothing, to be but a continuation of that very same philosophy. Nothing ever trickled down from the rich to us floundering peasants, rather there has been seemingly a suck upwards from us to them. Same ol same ol. Only now we cannot find wage slavery to keep us in the lifestyle with which we have growed accustomed. Go figure, or to be more succinct, It Figures....
Whar daur meddle wi me
#14 - Fri Jun 26, 2009 12:24 PM EDTYou're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead. |
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