Quick poll: What do you think of Washington’s stimulus package?
February 4, 2009 by Jim GiulianoPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Uncategorized
What do you think of the stimulus package and its effect on your industry? Let us know, and see how other HR managers have voted.
How will the stimulus package out of Washington affect your industry?
- It'll hurt our industry (33%, 998 Votes)
- It'll have no effect (27%, 827 Votes)
- Not sure (24%, 737 Votes)
- It'll help create jobs and business (16%, 462 Votes)
Total Voters: 3,024
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February 9th, 2009 at 11:09 am
This is exactly the problem we face with today’s citizens. They are educated only by sound bites. Taking a little time to read through our history will point out that never in our history has the growth of government stimulated anything. Except obviously today. Chris Matthews was reported to have tingling feelings NOW running up and down BOTH his legs since Obama took office and the stimulus package (I prefer HUGE PORK PACKAGE) was introduced.
We are an HRO company. Has anyone ever worked with either the IRS or the state treasuries. We do everyday. If this is the sector of our economy you want to grow, just work with these people for a day. You will quickly change your mind.
February 9th, 2009 at 11:18 am
I wish they could come up with a real way to stimulate the economy. This package is just not it. The changes they propose could actually do more harm than good!
February 9th, 2009 at 11:29 am
Obama is having a serious problem with his leadership role. He has danced to the tune of Polosi & Reed now he must pay the piper. How sad for the American employees who are losing their jobs in groves. Pork is not the answer for the jobless of America. Bi partisian leadership is a must, Obama stand up and fight for fairness and not the fairness doctrine. This country is in sad shape.
By the way when requiring the e mail address for this Reply, State EMAIL Address not Mail, get real you guys
February 9th, 2009 at 11:34 am
Way too much pork! Government spending hurts the economy because the money that goes in comes out as taxes. Private enterprise is the only way to grow an economy. We are losing our freedom as government grows. Read the constitution and then read this bill. Then tell me the Demacrates deserve the right to run our country. Both parties must remember that “You lose What You Abuse”
Gary Higbee
February 9th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
The money to replace windows in low income housing and federal buildings if still in the stimulus package could help my industry,most likely not the company I work for. Getting the contracts will be difficult and our company is male owned with a low % of minority employees. I feel overall it’s a joke and will hurt more than help.
February 9th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
I work for a state agency that is one that will remain in full swing, however don’t have alot left in this years budget due to overtime and unions that have raped the state for money they really don’t deserve. However with the state standing storng on denying the unions things in a contract negotiations and when it goes to an Arbitrator who is feeling liberal and gives them things that cost the state millions of dollars is where the problem starts and continues to grow.
We were told by our Governor that as Managers we will not be receiving our rasies for at a minimum of 2 years, however the unions will still see them and at the end of that time managment staff will be making less than line staff who will receive at least 23% in raises. I am not against unions by far, however this is a time that they could step up to the plate and give back some of the “PORK” that they have received, however we all know they won’t!
The stimulus is being given to the wrong people! To stimulate the economy they need to start at the bottom and it will work it’s way up to the top. If they gave every home owner $100,000.00 people like me will pay off bills that will free up alot of money that I could spend on going out to dinner, go to department stores, and oh yeah lets think about vacations were we could spend more money!
Do they think for one minute that giving money to big banks will help, NO! why because they will now become more strick who they loan money to, why because they got into this mess by allowing anyone and everyone to get loans that they could not afford. The big 3 car companies what are they going to do with the money? Put it into a program to create a better and more fuel efficent vehicles that they will price why out of most if not all of us to afford? Yeah lets give them the money when they continue to make record profits and give out bonus money to top executives when we are all struggling to pay our bills!
Why has no one in our Government meaning the President, Congress, and Senate thought about giving the lower and middle class a big stimulus check to really jump start the economy? Imagine how much money would be spent!
The way I see it is like growing a tree or plant the water goes into the ground (THE BOTTOM) and up grows a strong healthy tree (THE TOP). I think it makes alot of sense to start a strong foundation so the top don’t curmble. But I guess since I don’t have a college degree or don’t know anything about economics why should anyone listen to me? I hope that the stimulus package that finally comes out does at least do something for the economy!
February 9th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
I am conerned that people are citing the constitution and big government and counting on the market to correct itself without government intervention. Please note what that has done for the banking institutions. The portion of history class that I remember is the US being a government of the people by the people. Thsi statement gives the government the responsibility and accountability to take action in times of need. For those of you in HR who have seen large numbers of laid off applicants apply for positions or have had to reduce your labor force because of the economy, then you should appreciate that something needs to be done. By todays standards, many people would call the TVA Pork spending.
February 9th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Living in the Detroit area, I can tell you the Big 3 are definitely NOT making record profits. They have lost billions in the 4th quarter alone in 2008. Manufacturing has been very hard hit in this area. Meanwhile, the masses of unemployed workers (the highest rate in the country at 10%) have been waiting months for unemployment checks to arrive because the unemployment lines are long and because of state budget cuts, the unemployment offices are few and understaffed.
I agree that the stimulus package needs to include a stimulus check for the American people. What’s going to get the economy going are job creation and people spending money on goods and services. If Congress could accomplish this in the stimulus package, it would be a good start.
In the meantime, I am just glad to still have my job (but for how much longer I do not know).
February 9th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
The problem is none of us knows JACK. Obama spent the past 2 months with bipartisian politicians coming up with this package. Yet everyone wants a piece of the pie when it comes to who fixed the economy. I understand what most of you are saying…the government has too much stake in this but that’s all fine and good if we were just talking about our country. I have spoken to people from all over the world and you know something….so goes America…..so goes the world. So think about it guys. We look toward our government to protect us. Are you satisfied the millions of people are out of work? But by the grace of God there go I???? Careful not to sit on your perch and think it won’t happen to me??? Industries that in the past were ressesion proof are now feeling the pitch. If it wasn’t for the fact that my employer is debt free, privately owned and not union, we may be doing lay offs right now, but fortunately we are hiring…a few people. Something has to be done….at least Obama is doing something.
February 9th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Change we can believe in – indeed.
February 9th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
This is not a stimulus package! This package will not benefit the majority of Americans!
It is supposed to be an Honor to Represent your State, Region and the Nation – but most all seem to have forgotten they work for us! Everyone of “our” representatives, lawmakers and leaders needs to read our constitution. Want to help the country – start by cutting outageous poltical salaries! and perks.
Wallstreet, the big banks, the Big 3 automakers and a numberous other big companies have brought themselves to the brink of disaster – not the American people. Wouldn’t it be nice if we all received JUST ONE bonus that was the equivalent of of a whole town’s life time income, let alone every year! Let the people at the bottom show those at the top how to create and stay within a budget!
While not a big proponent of Ted Nugent’s or his book Nugents Manifesto – maybe Congress, the Sentate and the White House should all take time to read his and numerous other involved citizens books to remind them WHY they were elected and what their responsibilities are.
Private enterprise is the solution for America – not “PORK” packages!
February 9th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
“Taking a little time to read through our history will point out that never in our history has the growth of government stimulated anything.”
Except for the time that government spending on World War II brought the Great Depression to an end in America.
February 9th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Fighting WWII was not the same kind of government growth at all. Ironically, the type of government structure we fought to destroy is the one we are now trying to create in the US (and the structure we fought to support has become something a lot of Americans now want to act ashamed of). If we had not been pro-capitalist and anti-socialist, we would have stayed out of WWII or fought for the other side and probably would have had greater economic problems than this by now. How funny that you wuld use WWII as your example.
February 9th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
If I was unemployeed and losing my home and someone handed me a check I would save it for a rainy day and NOT spend it which does nothing to stimulate. I am not opposed to the package however some of the line items are rediculous. This needs to be centered on common sense which frankly I think most governement officials lack as do most people who are in finanncial hotwater. Would you purchase a $300,000.00 home on a $45,000/year salary. People with no common sense are going to squander the money you give them. People need to learn to live within their means and banks need to make sure who they lend is worthy of the loan.
In this dog eat dog world let the strong survive and the weak fail.
February 9th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
If the government just has to get involved in this stuff why not pass a law that says you can’t borrow more than a certain percentage of your income?
February 10th, 2009 at 9:13 am
Lajeli – when I purchased my first home that was the criteria. My monthly expenses could not exceed 30% of my income. Plus you had to have money down. Awh the good old days.
February 10th, 2009 at 9:56 am
I want to thank Jeff for letting me know what the news is not telling us about the losses in the big 3 profits. I feel for all those who have lost thier jobs due to the economy situation. I am extremely glad that I have a job. You see I work for a state agency in the Department of Corrections which I don’t see any furloughs or layoffs in due to it being an unfortunate growing business. Will I profit from it, the only thing I will profit from it is that I will have a job, however as I mentioned in my last comment I will not receive any rasies for at least 2 years. I will begin struggling if prices start to rise, however my income won’t and it will make it harder to make ends meet.
Also for RJB and Lajeli thank you for pointing out exactly what I mean with the fact that the banks and credit card companies have made it to easy for someone to get money beyond their income…the only thing people look at is I could use some money to buy something and it is given to them. Would I buy a home that is beyond my reach absolutly no way! I do have a home that I would like to refinance to lower my payments and get a lower interest rate, however I did try that after 2 years of my current loan and here is what happened 2 years ago my home was worth $106,000.00 I make my payments every 2 weeks and I am ahead on my payments, a couple of months ago I had the house appraised to refinance and well with the economy it is now only worth $93,000.00 and in the past year I remodled a room and put over $3000.00 into it. I lost out all together.
Things are starting to get tight with my financial budget at home and if I had the chance to get a larger stimulus check that could pay off the house or other bills, the money I would go to that and the money in my pay check would then give me the chance to spend it in other areas to help boost the economy.
Now do I think everyone would use the check for that purpose no! But the money they would get would be spent on things that they want but could not afford before like a car, appliances, or what ever that would start the economy going again. I personally don’t think they would hold on to it, because holding on to it is not going to help them other than having money in the bank. I think most Americans know that we need to spend money to keep our economy going and if they were given that money that is what they would do with it.
February 10th, 2009 at 10:14 am
I agree. Things have gotten crazy. People who spend wisely and save are having a harder time getting by. The neat thing about this country was that any child could grow up to be more successful than his or her parents. We weren’t trapped by the circumstances of birth. Why are we creating a ceiling to stop that? Why are we taxing and taxing to enable people to maintain generations of poverty. The key is education, motivation and self-discipline but we don’t reward those things. Instead we create more safety nets so that people who do not strive for a better life get one anyway. I just don’t understand it. It’s the land of opportunity not the land of guarantees.
February 10th, 2009 at 10:22 am
I too own a home, recently purchasing one back in 2007 thinking it was a good time to buy. Now that I am locked in, I am wondering if I made the right decision. I love living in Michigan, but I know there are more opportunities elsewhere.
Luckily, I do not work in the automotive sector. I work in government as well, but we are currently looking into consolidating services with the County (HR, IT, payroll, dispatch), which should save our municipality some money. Unfortunately, I think this will ultimately lead to more job losses, which our state definitely DOES NOT need more of at this point.
I agree with you HR/Training Director that Americans need to spend money to get our economy jump-started. Unfortunately, those who are unemployed may be more prone to hold on to that money. If there was to be a stimulus check for Americans, it would be nice if there was some way the money could be earmarked to be only spent on goods and services (or bills or mortgage payments) as opposed to being stashed away in a bank account.
February 10th, 2009 at 10:22 am
Here is how Obama’s campaign described the ’stimulus’ spending which you can see is way, way less money than we are talking about now:
http://obama.3cdn.net/8335008b3be0e6391e_foi8mve29.pdf
In case anyone has the time (and the patience) to read the entire stimulus package,you can find it here:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.1:
February 10th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
The best thing that the government could do to stimulate the economy is to cut back government
employment by 30%.
The worst thing is a stimulus package and governement spendong on infrastructure like the federal
jobs program.
The reason is the same reason that the subprime mortgage meltdown happened. When you let
the government try to do good they do it with their own agenda. When they got involved in the
mortgage market they seemed to be doing good until they enforced lending money to poor people
and it collapsed. Similarly every government handout has “invisble foot” consequences.
No federal state or local economic stimulus package has ever worked to stimulate the economy.
Remember, government workers don’t create wealth, they just sap it from the productive sector.
And let’s not forget that the government’s agenda is relection. They will do everything they can
to buy votes. Any stimulus package will have tons of goodies inserted for the government employees
for the labor unions, for “education” and for liberal agendas of all sorts.
February 12th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Nejha, you are so close to seeing the truth here.
You say:
“If it wasn’t for the fact that my employer is debt free, privately owned and not union, we may be doing lay offs right now, but fortunately we are hiring…a few people. Something has to be done….at least Obama is doing something.”
What obama is doing is increasing debt, increasing union presence in business and making it harder to privately own businesses. I also work for a privately owned, non-union company who is also hiring a few people right now (in the manufacturing industry if you can believe that!). That is the key to what so many of us are saying. The answer is to support privately owned, non-union busnesses in the US in order to create jobs (you and I work for companies proving that right now!!)
Doing the wrong thing can be just as bad if not worse than doing nothing!
March 10th, 2009 at 11:14 am
Give President Obama and his plan a chance. Today is the 8 week anniversary of his inauguration and it seems like you are all acting as if he has been President for years and we are in as bad a shape as the previous Administration.
Slow down everyone and let’s see where the return of brains and smart people to the White House leads us. We certainly know where the previous Administration’s economic policies have left the country……in a deficit of stupendous and unbelievable and unacceptable proportions. There is no easy way out here.
March 16th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
The plan is the worst thing that could ever have happened at an economic time like the one we are in. I can’t completely blame OBAMA – he has surrounded himself with people who are giving bad advice obviously. When will America wake up and stop being ignorant of what he is really pushing as an agenda.
March 19th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
“If we had not been pro-capitalist and anti-socialist, we would have stayed out of WWII or fought for the other side and probably would have had greater economic problems than this by now.”
If I remember 8th grade history right, the US joined Britain and allied with the Communists (Russia, China) in WWI to fight the Fascists (Germany & Italy) and an Emperor (kind of like a Fascist, but with more colorful outfits and better bling).