Public Confidence In Stimulus Package's Effectiveness Ebbs, Poll Finds

Washington Post:

Barely half of Americans are now confident that President Obama's $787 billion stimulus measure will boost the economy, and the rapid rise in optimism about the state of the nation that followed the 2008 election has abated, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Read the whole story: Washington Post

Comments

[ReckingBall]

Keep hoping for change. Thats all we can do at this point. It seems like few learn from history. Example Japans econ.

[hellboundtrain]

Stimulus funds provide the new roads, bridges, and other impediments of concrete built to impede the flow of traffic in the finite rights-of-way, but it may be that there will be people with no money for cars and all of the upkeep to navigate their way through them.

[mjtaylor22]

for all those who said it was too much spending, thanks for messing things up it was actually not enough spending. thanks congress an senate for once again watering down a potentially strong bill to extra tax cuts on money folk are not making, and thank to all those governors who refused the money and allowed their states to fall further behind on unemployment payments, dropped ext of medical coverage for unemployed citizens, thanks RNC for pounding the package as big pork, and Pulling out the meat in negotiations. Thanks Dems for being weak in the knees bum’s.
At least the Repugnants are crazy all together all the time. (One can kinda respect that)Dems are so timid, so wishy washy, so cowering, no wonder your philosophy falls on too many def ears, or you loose your way.
Thanks alot,
lat thing, is it possible that with all the delays in getting the money to the different states, that the normal time frame of 6 months to affect the economy was extended a bit, may take till Jan to see the real effect of the stimulus, with all the obstruction form the RNC and from with in the DNC.........

[hmargret]

Bring on Ron Paul! Obama is blowing his political voter capital with goverment as usual.
too bad....he has so many opportunities.
it's now everyone for themselves to get out of debt, start saving and stop spending.

[puffthedragon]

You wandered away from the home again margret?

[rabiddog6708]

Ron Paul would not help you at all. He is a government as hands off believer and would not do anything to help.

[steamboat]

Thats because it isn't working.......Its just a gimmick to put money in the pockets of the trades labor unions and contributors/sponsors of his like Penny Pritzker (Bd. of Directors of Bank of America and owns 2 AIG Financial companies)..........In the meantime it QUADRUPLED the deficit.

[drbillybob]

Our township - a very wealthy suburb of Philadelphia - just got $10,000 of taxpayer money to install a few solar panels on our township building. These will generate1500 kwatt.hrs per year and should pay for themselves in about 67 years at current PA rates.

Thanks Uncle Sam.

[dezzertguy]

This is a cool link. Shows even the pop culture is starting to turn.

http://sendables.jibjab.com/originals/hes_barack_obama

Obama told Dowd early one that is ears are off limits but now even they are in play.

[Gretel1or2]

Pathetic...you cannot even hide the fact that you are so invested in this president's failure.

[babo74]

We are all invested in this president's success or failure. Either one has a huge price tag, and I don't just mean China's money.

[dezzertguy]

Yes all across the board Obama's ratings are falling. Many of his voters were not typical Dems/libs but independents that thought he would do something. The trusted his change vision. But, now they see the reality they are put off. If the Reps can get it together, next year should change Congress and start cleaning up this mess.

[Gretel1or2]

First of all, the drop in Obama's ratings is characteristic of ALL presidents (regardless of popularity ) at this time. Second of all the Republican ratings are at an all time low, which you conveniently forgot to mention. They have ZERO ideas and ZERO credibility, and they are doing nothing but criticizing Obama while offering no solutions. They will not be voted into congress unless the media manipulates the public into doing so.

[mjtaylor22]

and if they are pulling out in under 6 months after suffering for 8 long years.
so be it, fairweather friends are not friends at all.

[mjtaylor22]

he is at 67 % approval rating

[SocialistDistortion]

You mean the mess that THE GOP created in the first place?

[desertman]

You need both parties to make a real mess. We have a real mess.

[enochsmoky]

Does it surprise anyone that the stimulus package is not working? This was a brazen political payoff to public employee unions, welfare recipients, state governments, "community organizations" and other assorted leeches of the federal government. Obama's soaring rhetoric and ambitious plans are meeting with reality and it will not be pretty. Wait till the general public comprehends the huge expense of the so called health care reform and the even greater cost of the cap and trade energy policy. This is why Obama is pushing so hard so his administration can enact his radical policies before the general public awakens from its slumber.

[desertman]

the long history of stimulus packages show they do not work.

[saintaug1]

I guess taking a couple extra days to allow legislators to read the package may have been advisable.
What's occurring now is the market is slowly recovering on it's own. Some economists now worry about a double-dip recession due to hyper-inflation caused by printing so much money. In my own region, local officials attempted to get monies for "clean energy projects, cleaning up of rivers, etc.. Not one penny for any of those worth while project, oh... we did get $3M for a turtle tunnel in Tallahassee. What a plan.

[mjtaylor22]

They got bailed the heck out to the tune of billons of dollars, of course their books look better, and we all know b of a is cooking the heck out of its books to paint a more rosy picture.
Pls stop with you deception cause I do not believe you are that ignorant, “recovering on their own"
Billions to Wall Street, as they cut job buy almost a million per month.
Yes they look like they are going to make money in the future,
They shrunk their employee base to bare bonz and got HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS IN TAX PAYER MONEY. man I h had received 100,000 in tax payer money I would have paid off my house and car and prob bought two more houses for income purpose, my stock would be wayy the heck up too.....
I mean get real........what is your purpose because you don't even make common sense.

[joebaggadonuts]

Most of the economists who thought we should have fiscal stimulus said when it was passed that it was probably too little. NOW you are complaining about not listening to them and following the Republican agenda? What part of Rush wants us to fail did you NOT understand?????

[burt2009]

Obama's trickle down economy, just a small amount of the stimulus money has filtered down to the public sector to create or SAVE jobs.

[Grunty1]

This is the problem with America: we are stuck in a short term mindset. The money is just starting to be given out and people are already "losing confidence". If we could look 5 or 10 years down the road, we wouldn't constantly be hitting disaster after disaster.

[gino618]

Feel the same way about Iraq? Or is this just your way of excusing the failure of the stimulus?

[Gretel1or2]

Failure of the stimulus after a few months??? Do doctors assess the effectiveness of cancer treatment after 2 weeks?

[BBackSoon]

Our corporations are willing to cut the ranks of the working folk that actually produce work in the search of ever higher profits without looking at the long term damage they are doing to their companies.

I could not agree with you more, it is always decisions that will make the bottom line look better this or maybe next quarter.

I personally work for a major corporation and while they are flush with cash and have a great credit rating they are still talking about massive layoffs, when in my humble opinion they could realistically reduce the number of workers that are supporting the day to day business by whatever number they chose and put these people to work fixing all the problems that are ‘Too Complicated’ to take on during normal operations. Business is slow, now is the time to fix antiquated business processes so we are more efficient when the economy and sales return.

But then again I am in the trenches not in the ivory tower.

[itsjustanillusion]

The man has been in office 5 months and the American people expect all of the problems that have been created in the past 10+ years to fade away. GROW UP!

Only 10% has been doled out thus far. From what I've heard jobs have been created/saved because of it. 90% to go.

Patience is a virtue people! Have faith.

[pricespector]

5 to 10 years and the economy will have recovered without any of the stimulus, so what was the point then?

[BBackSoon]

5 or 10 years would be a long time to go with 10%, 15% or even 25% unemployment.

The idea is to stop the free fall.

[I once had a Crysknife]

You can't stimulate the private sector by growing the public one to epic proportions. Obama should have considered massive cuts to the federal budget and long term cuts in the payroll tax. This would have the immediate effect of putting more cash in the hands of consumers. If consumers are strapped for cash then there is no demand without demand you have no need for supply and there goes the job market.

[BBackSoon]

You’re wrong; public works projects do stimulate the economy. They have worked in the past and they will work this time.

Spending Freeze and Payroll Tax cuts, you’re kidding right? All the states are broke and soon without the help of the government budgets would or will have to be cut and the first thing to go is social services, so the poor people that are already just barely squeaking by will really crash. These cuts will be followed by reduction of firefighters, police and EMT’s. Somewhere along the line Road workers and court employees will be laid off.

And all those laid off people will be looking to the state for Unemployment benefits and many will need help thru programs like food stamps and state provided health care. But the state is broke and workers have been laid off so there is no help.

Some of these people will turn to crime to feed their families but there are not enough cops to catch them.

But those that still have a job will get to keep and extra $10 or $20 a week in their paycheck.

Your idea sounds great, mass chaos!

[Yurdelite]

How about repealing the rich folk's tax cuts and giving it to the middle class? THAT would have been the prudent thing for the sorry a$$ republicans to do instead of continuing with the failed economic policies of their Party of Nothing.

[mjtaylor22]

the private sector caused this mess inconjunction with lax govt and deleted regulation.
privates sector turned their backs on the nation destroyed the economy thru back off ice off the books dealscame begging for a hand out and stopped lending, stoped capitalism to save their own tails.
we needed more govt jobs creaated thru the stimulus, not more tax cuts etc etc....

[AnnfromCA]

The stimulus bill made sure govt employees kept their jobs and benefits and you name it.....big cars, etc.

The rest of us can go complain, basically.

[BBackSoon]

Yea we should have kicked the government workers out first! Then all the money they spend would be save. . . . No I lost your logic there.

[mjtaylor22]

WHAT THE, THE CONSUMERS ARE AND WERE BEING LAID OFF AT 650,000 PER MONTH, WHO WOULD THAT HAVE HELPED.
it did not work under bush, his admin destroyed every job created for the last 20 years darn near,
his virus was so powerful it eliminated jobs created under Bill Clinton.
THE CASH GOT SUCKED UP BY THE TOP DOGS MAN. THE LIL GUY GOT ROBBED.

[I once had a Crysknife]

I didn't get robbed by anybody. Believe it or not 90% of us are still working. And we are not working for the government paving roads. Put your bong down and get a job.

[AdV2k1]

it should have been twice as big. That was the problem.

Republicans would just pray to the invisible hand to fix the economy. A plan is better than praying to a false cult of capitalism.

[gino618]

Capitalism BUILT this country and made it the most powerful in the world for over 200 years..... but, nah.... it doesn't work....

Socialism has a much better record of success, right?

[BBackSoon]

Capitalism made this country great and Unfettered Capitalism brought it to its knees.

Every so often government needs to break up the Trusts and put consumer protections back into play.

A for profit companies one and only goal is to make money. Many do not care how they make that money, be it thru becoming more efficient, or simply by tacking on ever greater fees and charges.

And that scary word ‘Socialism’ just doesn’t cut it. We have been screwed by big business for the last 40+ years; it is time to try something different. Maybe, if it is set up right it will work. But by simply saying Capitalism is the only way, nothing else will work, we will never get there.

[joecoolconservative]

Yes. Spending reductions and tax cuts. Works every time. Think about it. If your bills were suddenly reduce in half and you got a 25% raise you would be inclined to spend it or save it. It does not matter. Either way you will grow the economy and produce more tax revenue for the government.

[Yurdelite]

Tax cuts for the rich no doubt 'cause those are the only people republican.ts believe in giving tax breaks to. Amazing. Trickle down alright...

[mjtaylor22]

oh i got cha Joe,
trickel down again,
no fool, we have seen and heard this nonsence for a good three decades, and practiced it for the last 10 yrs,
and look where we are now , we just got into this mess due to your type of thinking
pls go bk to the drawing board.

[drbillybob]

For an interesting take on free market vs. state run economies please look at these cool DOD satellite photos of the Korean peninsula at night (bottom two).

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/dprk/dprk-dark.htm

Now see if you can guess which side is run by capitalist pigs and which is a "workers paradise" ...

[lastams]

Without going into what it is actually like to BE a worker in South Korea (lights on or not), let's just say that it may not be the best standard with which to compare life on this side of the pond.
Here on THIS continent, the top 1 percent of Americans doubled their share of the American pie in the last decade, moved the lions share of our manufacturing base overseas, and left the middle class, the consuming American public on which the economy depends, with insufficient capital to promote real growth.
The reason this hasn't been noticed, or not heeded enough, is that the middle class has borrowed to maintain this illusion of prosperity, and guess what, the bills are coming due.
Now post rape of the economy we have not only let the rapists out on the street, we're paying their rent.
Just where do you think this anything-goes, smoke and mirrors economic philosophy is going to take us?

A "free market" doesn't mean a license to steal, it means free competition within a
healthy framework that takes into account the public good.

Without a voice looking out for the interests of average Americans, we may indeed start to look like that photo of North Korea.
Foreclosed houses and abandoned factories tend to produce very little light.