The Taxpayer's Dozen

There are 12 areas of the economic stimulus package plan:

Tax relief, child tax credit, jobless benefits, health care, energy, education, infrastructure, science and technology, law enforcement, jump start on jobs, business breaks and accountability. To Democrats, this plan represents stabilizing the economy where it will see the most progress - helping people help themselves. To Republicans, it is perceived as a huge loss of revenue where it will do big business and the military, two areas upon which Republicans base their version of financial stability.

A Networked Plan of Economic Stimulus

Unlike prior economic stimulus plans, i.e., millions to big business in 2001, tax cuts for the richest 1% and $350 billion to the bailout financial institutions, the Obama plan gets to the heart of why all other plans have failed...excising the middle class from benefiting in equal proportion. In the Obama plan, every area is carefully networked so that the results stabilize working class Americans. The middle class during the took several simultaneous hits taxes that incurred further debt, taxes on consumables and taxes that trickled down to create higher state income and property taxes. Allowing Americans to keep an additional $500-1,000 of their income reduces the burden of eroding paychecks and increasing costs of living. With added help from the child tax credit, working parents get to keep more of their hard-earned incomes if their salaries are under the $150,000 cap. So, the first two areas begin to immediately relieve the economic balloon about to burst from pressure of too many taxes at too high a rate. For those who are jobless as a result of economic layoff or job evaporation, the additional aid to jobless benefits may stave off the increase in the number of people living below the poverty level. Science &Technology, Law Enforcement, Jump Starting Jobs, Business breaks and accountability fit well into this network as definitely doable and pragmatic.

The Big Four of the Economic Stimulus Plan

There are 4 very big areas of this plan: Health care, energy, education and infrastructure. Health care, unless it is totally revamped will affect the outcome of all 11 related parts of this plan. Health care is unaffordable not only for average Americans but for business as well. Until that issue is resolved, none of the other areas of the plan can work. No job will be secure if health care continues to spiral out of control. No business will take the chance of hiring more employees they know will jeopardize the health care benefits of their existing staff. And, until age discrimination is resolved with regard to HMOs, older Americans who want to work past retirement will be considered undesirable and costly. The cost of education will increase as a result of increasing costs of benefits for education employees. Any revenues freed for other parts of the plan will be eroded by the cost of health care. Health care costs must be reined in before issuing revenue to education, energy and infrastructure. To overlook the ramifications of unaffordable health care is a serious loophole in the fabric of the economic stimulus plan.