http://www.charlotteobserver.com/597/story/537228.html
http://blog.syracuse.com/indepth/2009/02/cny_gets_more_than_its_share_o.html
I found the two articles above to compare how the new stimulus package will impact Syracuse, NY and Charlotte, NC, both areas hit hard by severe job losses in recent years as manufacturing jobs leave our country for cheaper, unregulated labor. Unfortunately for those looking for work, this will not help you much and will not provide nearly enough jobs to help stimulate the economy. So we have a few more construction jobs, highway crews and maybe some who want jobs researching alternate energies but what about for those of us who college is little or no option and simply just want a job to pay our bills?
How could you pass $787 billion dollars that will have to be paid back when you provided few jobs to help generate taxable income needed to pay it back? Yes, I think our schools need help and teachers should be millionaires before athletes are (and this from a huge sport fan) and we need more schools/programs to help prepare our kids for the future. I also think for those who are unemployed and faced with paying for Cobra insurance, that was a no brainer to assist with that because how do you ask an unemployed family to pay $1500 a month for insurance when many will barely make that in unemployment? If you bring jobs that have left the US such as the manufacturing industry back to the US and use the money to entice them through tax breaks/bonuses based on the amount of jobs they produce, maybe we would be in better shape. I also think killing the "Buy American" incentives was wrong in so many ways and those like Sen. McCain who likened this to protectionist trade policy and saying we will make enemies of other countries need a reality check into the everyday people and their lives surrounding them who live in poverty and those who are headed there in the near future.
I remember hearing President Obama urging for this to pass quickly as many Americans are suffering but tax breaks are not much help when people have no jobs to pay taxes, $25 extra in unemployment and a check for $250 to social security recipients will help little long term and NOT create new jobs, only help get a few more people a little bit more at the grocery store. Please someone explain to me why I will now have bill collectors calling my house for their money I owe them that I rightfully just want to work to earn as opposed to cheering because there were so many more jobs stimulated due to this bill.
Oh and for the record, college is little to no option to me. The simple solution of "everyone just go to college" does not work for everyone of us because it is not as simple as it sounds. That will help some and I gladly applaud those who it will help but there are provisions and many factors that blanket statements do not identify. And have some considered the possibility that just maybe some of us tried college and were not suited for it? That does not mean everyone who is not a good student should work 2-3 jobs earning minimum wage should have to accept that as a viable option to feed their families. For the record, my IQ level is not that low but I am a horrible student (and those who read the book I had published can tell you how much I learned after all those years of grammar and English classes). Uncle Sam paid me good money through the GI Bill after my 4 years in the Army (which was started after I tried a couple semesters of college by the way and failed miserably) and it turned out to be a waste of good money and every one's time as no matter how hard I tried, I was unable to succeed. Besides, many of the programs I would have interest in, generate little income and are not endorsed by the TAA program.
I am not out to bash President Obama as many are or were when President Bush was in office with him, I simply don't see any incentive for me to be excited by a bill that my kid's kids will be forced to pay back while their father works multiple jobs to try and stay alive. Heck, my most promising option seems to be to return to the military and for the record, I was not very good at that either. Please, bring back my job and those jobs of my family, my friend, my neighbors and my fellow citizens so we can go back to working hard and generate the taxes we need to survive as well as pay our mortgages. Keep your handouts to yourselves as it's very well documented many in Washington love to do, I want to work for my weekends (and if I have to, occasionally on them). We all complain about working for a living sometimes but that is nothing compared to the magnitude of the impact we will feel when the jobs are gone and nothing is done to help them stay here. I am sorry if Canada and China will be upset and I know free trade brings cheaper goods but bringing back jobs, tax breaks for those who buy American goods and tax breaks to companies who employ workers by the hundreds or thousands will do more then improving infrastructure. After all, who will visit these new buildings, drive these new streets, and ride the rail systems when people can't afford to travel such roads? And who will pay for it all when there are not enough jobs to stimulate taxes and crime rates accelerate as poverty tempts those with good intentions to find short cuts to survive? I pray we will soon find real answers but from what I have seen, this package will help too little and too late. Repeal NAFTA and programs similar to it and lets start giving incentives for businesses to produce jobs in our great country once again.
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