What all is included in the Stimulus Package?

Now that Congress has passed the $787 billion dollar Economic Stimulus Bill, many people are taking a closer look at just what’s inside it and wonder if “Barack Obama’s Payday Loan for America” wouldn’t have been a more apt name. There’s already been considerable wrangling about all the questionable projects being funded by the plan under the guise of job creation. Opponents have labeled it as a pork laden waste of taxpayer money. Some have even gone so far as to label it the equivalent of a very ill advised national payday loan.

Short-term Solutions for Long-term Problems?

As most people know, payday loans represent a great solution to a minor, temporary cash shortage. However, using a payday loan simply to acquire more cash and continuing to spend irresponsibly is neither the intended purpose of payday loans nor a good use of them. The stimulus bill has raised many eyebrows among those that have read the actual expenditures, because in many ways it represents the latter description.

Change America Really Wanted To Believe In

It wasn’t very long ago at all that Barack Obama appealed to the voters’ desire to turn the page on the Bush administration and rode a wave of reformist sentiment straight into the White House. Promising change and inspiring hope among a citizenry that had endured eight years of divisive politics capped off by an economic collapse that hadn’t been witnessed since the Great Depression of the 1930’s, Obama was an easy sell to the American public. Seemingly, the days of payday loans and cash advances for working class America would soon be ending.

A Ban on Earmarks

Amid much fanfare, one of Barack Obama’s first acts after being inaugurated as the forty-fourth president of the United States of America was to issue a presidential order that banned the inclusion of any earmarks in the stimulus bill that he had proposed during his time as President-elect. Not surprisingly, this was greeted as warmly as a payday loan in the final week of a thirty one day month. In recent years, earmarks had become the symbol of governmental excess and unbridled spending on Capitol Hill, with the “Bridge to Nowhere” becoming a rallying cry for fiscal conservatives and watchdog groups.

Free of Earmarks or One Large Earmark?

Problem is, it soon become apparent that this ban had a lot more bark than actual bite. Earmarks weren’t required for this bill because the pork and wasteful spending was built right into it. Once again, Congress was free to spend like a drunken sailor on his way home from cashing his first payday loan check. Shockingly, only approximately ninety billion of the 787 billion dollars in the so-called stimulus bill will actually fund programs that could potentially generate new jobs for America.

More of the Same Bad Medicine

When you delve into the particulars of what is inside this bill, it’s really no wonder that Republicans have decried it as a pork laden example of the type of wasteful spending that brought us to the economic situation we so precariously occupy, currently. The analogy of this stimulus bill being much like a nationwide payday loan is not at all inappropriate, being that the intention of this bill is to create a temporary infusion of cash into the economy. Unfortunately for America, the politicians in charge of our collective budget don’t seem be willing to act like responsible borrowers and curtail their excessive spending. Instead, they seem bent on continuing the failed policies that got us to where they needed to ask the taxpayers for a “payday loan” in the first place.

But does he have a copy of the stimulus bill?

Payday loans to doughnuts, that stimulus bill sure made it through Congress fast, eh? According to Paul Bedard’s recent U.S. News and World Report’s “Washington Whispers” column, developments have been quite shocking.

How shocking? Well, get this. Capitol Hill is up in arms – not because they didn’t have time to read the bill, but because they didn’t all receive copies to review in the first place! Somebody has copies, however. Lobbyists do.

Now, Cash Advance Mojo has voiced his opinion about lobbying before (he believes in it), but there are limits. Lobbyists should not control the game completely, but they should be allowed to have their at-bats. The press quickly caught wind of what was happening and things on the Hill have gone crazy.

There also appeared to be “several different versions” of the bill floating around. What’s an old version, or a new version? These are the kind of things Americans must insist that their elected officials know. But it appears they didn’t have the chance.

Why is this being ramrodded through so quickly? Perhaps an agenda is being served, one that wouldn’t have survived the proper time and care of an honest inspection? Whatever the case, $789 billion is a lot of money to spend without a plan. What’s on the minds of most Americans is how the bill will help “create and save” 3.5 million jobs. President Obama and Congress haven’t made that clear yet.

Act now! Don’t think – act now!

Dan Decker of the Weekly Point blog puts it plainly: “The whole idea behind our government is that drastic plans of actions need to be carefully scrutinized and not undertaken in a fear driven frenzy.” Much the same way, no payday loans operation worth their salt will try to rush you. Get the facts, think about your situation, then act. If consumers should do that for pay day loan amounts ranging from $300 to $1,500, our government should definitely do it for $789 billion…

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

States facing budget shortfalls could get big cash advances when President Barack Obama signs the economic stimulus bill.

The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives reached a consensus today on the stimulus package. The two houses are expected to hold final votes on the package before the end of the week, then the bill heads to Obama’s desk.

Earlier versions

Last week the House passed its version of the bill. Its total price tag was $819 billion. The Senate passed an even more pricey version of the bill yesterday that cost $838 billion. But when lawmakers met today to negotiate and reconcile the two bills, a lot of spending was cut.

This final version of the bill, which is expected to be approved by Obama in a few days, costs $789 billion. The bill gives cash advances to states and creates 3.5 million jobs, according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Cost-saving compromise

“The middle ground we’ve reached creates more jobs than the original Senate bill and costs less than the original House bill,” said Reid.

Apparently things cost less in the “middle ground.” According to Senator Susan Collins they “tightened and scrubbed” the bill.

The final version

Senator Susan Collins

Gone from the bill are tax breaks for home buyers. Also spending for school construction was slashed significantly.

Many of the original goals sought in drafting the original stimulus package are still intact. The final bill still provides tax cuts to workers and invests in infrastructure. It also dedicates $44 billion to giving cash advances to states that are facing budget shortfalls.

If changes to the economic stimulus package go through, more people might end up needing instant payday loans because they need cash in a hurry.

Yesterday the U.S. Senate passed an $838 billion version of the economic stimulus package, and today Congress is working to lower the cost of the bill. They have pared it down to $789 billion.

Previously in the stimulus package

Previously, the bill contained tax cuts for workers that would add up to $1,000 for couples or $500 for individuals over a year. The cut would work by taking fewer taxes out of each paycheck, usually adding up to about $20 per check.

Tax cuts trimmed

The new, cheaper version of the plan would trim those cuts to $800 for couples and $400 for individuals. As anyone who has ever needed instant payday loans can attest, $100 can make a lot of difference. People who were expecting bigger numbers in their paychecks might end up needing payday loans after all if the tax cuts are lowered to the point of making no difference.

Senators who attended the cost-trimming negotiations have talked about some of the larger items that will still appear in the scaled-down version of the bill.

What will survive

State aid previously was rumored to have been cut from the bill. However, it appears Congress still plans to include a provision that would spend $44 billion on aid to states.

The goal to invest in infrastructure still stands. The bill dedicates $6 billion to $9 billion to modernizing and repairing schools. This is a disappointment for supporters of an item the bill’s earlier version that would have spent $20 billion on school construction.

Preparing for payday loans

Don't expect another stimulus check this year.

Though Republicans fought tooth and nail for more tax cuts, it looks like very little relief will directly reach taxpayers. There are still credits that would help out with buying a car, college tuition and health insurance.

However, taxpayers who just need extra spending money will probably have to rely in instant payday loans if they need extra cash between paychecks.