Stimulus Baby!

Tomorrow, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 wil become law. This is a great move forward for our country. It will create or save 3.6 million jobs, it will rebuild our country's crumbling infrastructure, it will lay the foundation for a new "green" economy, it will begin to free our country from the reign of foreign oil, and it will fix our economy.

Republicans, for the past couple of weeks, have been complaining that there were never going to be enough jobs for this package to actually work. Well, a New York Times story today would probably change some of their minds. The article, written by Monica Davey, titled, "States, cities race for stimulus cash," pretty much says that there are thousands upon thousands of projects out there, that these states and municipalities are pretty much fighting it out on who will recieve the money, and how much.

So many states have projects the could have dirt flying withing 180 days. That sounds like a pretty good time frame for me. 180 days is nothing like the near 400 days that we have been in this recession. If we were to get people back to work doing those jobs that quickly, things would begin to turn around quicker than we think. Those workers would have money to begin paying off some of their debts, which would free up some credit for the banks to begin lending again which would lead to more money being lent for new projects to begin, creating the process all over again.

Republicans have also worried what would happen after these projects were completed? Where would the people work after there job was done? I have to admit that I had these problems with the job creation sections of the bill as well, but I have since calmed those fears. When the people that are put back to work on the infrastructure jobs recieve their paychecks, they are going to spend it somewhere. As they spend this money, that creates more cash flow for the businesses, which can order more stock, having more stock they must hire new employees, which will create even more stimulus. As this cycle repeats, by the time these projects are done, there will be more jobs created than just the ones by the bill, and the economy will heal.

Now there is one Governor who does not want to take part in this process, and you guessed it, it is a Republican. Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina is a strong opponent of the bill and has said that he will not accept any of this money of behalf of the state of South Carolina. That is all nice and well, but how about accepting the money on behalf of the people of South Carolina? I am sure there are people out of work, out of their homes, and out of hope in South Carolina too. So, Mr. Sanford, we will see what happens to you in the next election okay?