Saundra McDavid

What’s in it for me?  That’s the question on all of our minds.  Did you get a part of that last $350 billion dollar package that went to bail out banks and automotive manufacturers?  Me either.   This latest round of stimulus will be a tax credit of $1000 for families and $500 for individuals.  You’ll also receive a $2,500 college tuition credit.   Schools get a $150 billion stimulus over the next two years, including increases to the Pell grant program.  There’s also  $15,000 bonuses for medical providers who comply with new Medicaid and Medicare technology programs.  Basically, a reward for making your medical practice more efficient.  What is lacking in this bill, touted as a transportation and infrastructure investment package, are the funds for transportation and infrastructure. A mere $90 billion goes towards those projects.

Since we can’t have a bill without pork, here it is:

$75 million for smoking cessation planning, $70 million for a super computer for NOAA, $600 million in new cars for the federal government,  $1 billion for Amtrak, nearly $3 billion for global warming and carbon capture projects, $650 million in digital television certificates, and $25 million for new ATV paths.

In a widely circulated article about this bill, it is touted that $830 billion would be enough to pay every man woman and child in this country $2700. A family of four could do a lot with $10,800.  But would a one time payment be enough to halt our decline?  Probably not.  What we need are long term solutions.  The bill should focus on a stimulus for the economy and nothing else.  Tax relief for families and small business should be the targets.  We need people and small business to keep more of what they earn and we need to invest in long term job creation, not short term jobs.  We need loans available for small businesses and home purchases.  Is the stimulus that passed the House today going to achieve this?  No.  Not only did it have no Repbulican support, it caused some of the Democrats to vote no.   It’s now up to the Senate to fix this billion dollar problem.

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