Numbers, Details, Plans, NOW!

So far, the government has spent (or plans to spend) $7.2 trillion in efforts to fix the economy. If you're not somewhat taken aback by this number, then maybe you need to see it written another way. The government plans to spend $7,200,000,000,000 of your taxdollars to fix the economy . Since December 2007, everyone from banks, investment firms, insurance companies, automobile companies, student loan programs, and more have received millions or billions of dollars from the federal government. The idea is to stimulate the economy. I don't know about you, but I don't feel stimulated.


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So far, the government has spent (or plans to spend) $7.2 trillion in efforts to fix the economy. If you're not somewhat taken aback by this number, then maybe you need to see it written another way. The government plans to spend $7,200,000,000,000 of your taxdollars to fix the economy . Since December 2007, everyone from banks, investment firms, insurance companies, automobile companies, student loan programs, and more have received millions or billions of dollars from the federal government. The idea is to stimulate the economy. I don't know about you, but I don't feel stimulated.

Now I will be the first to admit I don't know THAT much about the economy. I took Econ200 my sophomore year and got a C (and that was WITH a curve!). So my opinion comes from basic common sense. And using my common sense, the idea of spending $7.2 trillion (that we don't have) to bail out businesses that are largely responsible for the crisis in the first place (due to their idiotic and greedy management practices). And its not like this money was spent all at once. It was over the period of a whole year. After a while, maybe the first 3-6 months, you have to realize that throwing money around like candy isn't the solution to the problem.

What I see going on here, is panic. When signs of an economy first going into the tanker first appeared, so did the fear-mongers. You would have thought 1929 was right around the corner! President Bush dispatched Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson to Capital Hill to tell us that we needed to spend insane amounts of money immediately to solve the problem. And with no real plans, no real method of accountability, Congress gives them the money! And after spending $7.2 trillion, the economy is just as bad as it was then. December 2008 retail sales were the worst in 60 years. Unemployment rates are nearing double digits. I can't even talk about the housing situation, that deserves its own post! So the bottom line is that we spent $7.2 and have nothing to show for it.

So where do we go from hear? We throw MORE money at the problem! President-Elect Barack Obama is "urging" congress to act on a stimulus package without providing any real details on how much he would spend, only that it would be a "considerable" amount. He says congress needs to "act quickly" before things get worse. Of course the last thing I want to see happen is the economy to get worse. But I also don't want to see is more money spent without a concrete plan and explanation as to how every dollar is going to benefit the economy. Again, I'm not anywhere close to an expert on the economy. But I know that abstract ideas and lofty speeches won't cut it. Numbers, details, plans is what is needed now.

Thoughts?