The economic stimulus was a good idea. However, according to all reports it hasn't accomplished what it was supposed to accomplish. Could it be a problem with implementation?
The stimulus hasn't performed the way it was supposed to. Now I know what you're out there saying "But it hasn't had enough time, they haven't spent all the money yet, it has SAVED some jobs". Probably all true. However, I seem to remember someone saying that if we don't pass this stimulus immediately, unemployment will reach 9%. Hmmmmm.
The stimulus in and of itself was not a bad idea. This economy needed something to get it going. It's the implementation that I have a gripe with. You really can't sit there and say your going to stimulate the economy and then do nothing to stimulate it. Keeping jobs that are already there is not going to stimulate anything, it will just keep you from going into a deeper recession. And it really won't do that either because the people who were miraculously saved by the bill, will be thinking twice about spending money on big ticket items. So this "stimulus " was nothing of the kind, merely something to not make the crash so big.
So now you're asking" Well Mr. Smarty pants, what should they have done?" Actually it's quite easy. According to this website, there were 11 million vehicles produced in the US in 2006. cars produced Doing a little math(not my strong suit) I came up with about a total cost of 225 billion dollars using 20,000 per vehicle. At about the same time the stimulus was getting passed, the auto makers were in trouble. So here's my solution, why didn't we just order 11 million vehicles? That's an entire years worth of production. People would have to be hired and PAID.
Now most people when they get a paycheck do the exact same thing I do. They SPEND IT. Would all these people spending stimulate the economy in other areas? You betcha. Right now, the money in the stimulus isn't really doing much of anything. It's not to late, they still have money in there.