Beyond Stimulus Give Us Stability
The last time I wrote for the Springfield Business Journal I talked about the change we need. My column focused on the major crises we face; a severe trade deficit and our $10T+ and growing federal deficit. With the imminent cost of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (The Stimulus) I can’t help but wonder how it is that no one saw this coming?
Undoubtedly at this point, developed nations of the world understand the full impact of America’s consumption, or lack of it, and the rippling effects through most economies. As we are all hopeful the Stimulus will live up to its name, here are the category highlights of what it’s hoping to stimulate:
Tax Relief $288B
State & Local Fiscal Relief $144B
Infrastructure & Science $111B
Protecting the Vulnerable $81B
Healthcare $59B
Education & Training $53B
Energy $43B
Other $8B
So there we have it….$787 billion ready to go to work…hopefully. As you break this down among the 300 million American citizens, that’s about $2,623 per person of relief in one form or another. As I talk with individuals about their opinions on first the TARP and now the Stimulus, perspectives are varied as to their intent and effectiveness, but the one string of consensus is that we all want stability.
Can I make a suggestion? Let’s quit worrying about inflation for a moment and shift our focus to deflation. For the pundits who say inflation is a major concern, I would ask them to look at Japan over the last decade. It actually appears that inflation may be our friend to a degree of course. As an example, if property values were to increase, this would help shore up the books of many banks. I know when many people hear “inflation” they think $4 a gallon gas. Fact is, those really high prices were largely because of speculation, not inflation.
Even as I write this piece about the Stimulus and ask provoking questions about where we’re at and where we’re headed, I am cognizant to this being economics as well. It seems when we boil it down, we all simply want answers. But truly are there any? How many times can we tell the story in the hopes of uncovering yet another nugget? Even non-financial programming has a budgetary slant these days like Rachel Ray cooking dinner on 2 bucks.
We all realize that there are real economic issues, in fact unprecedented in certain respects. But if we seriously keep hearing the sky is falling or already did, we will be perpetually depressed. Fact is, as a nation, we’ve seen hard times before and somehow weathered the storm and got through it. I’m sure we will this time too. Hopefully sooner than later.
I think next time I’m going to write something about gardening, that way I know there will be some growth. Actually, I am going to offer some real suggestions that I believe will help your businesses. Simple observations and what appear to be common sense, yet very much unpracticed.
