I think the Stim plan did both.
around half of the Stimulus package was in the form of tax cuts.
You take a bunch of money and start a new business, it will make profits and grow and hire more people. You don't need to give it a bunch of again.
You take a bunch of money and give it to states to prop up their budgets so they can keep teachers on the payrol without issue more debt/bonds etc, yeah you've saved some jobs. But unlike the business example above, when the gov money runs out, you'll need to either get more more gov money or lay off the teachers. It's a temporary (and expensive) solution to a longer term problem.
By and large is all it accomplished was shifting debt off the states' books and onto the federal government's.
It probably helped CA more then others since they can't really go further into debt, unlike most other states they're having no luck selling more bonds etc.
it would have been far far better had they implemented a plan to stimulate businesses directly and effectively. That's money that keeps on going and pays you back (via taxes).
Fern
Schwarzenegger says the stimulus worked
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/02/fl-gov-charlie-crist-stimulus-did-create-jobs.html
FL Gov Charlie Crist: Stimulus Did Create Jobs
Florida Governor Charlie Crist says Republicans who say the stimulus has not created jobs are simply wrong.
"Thats not the case in Florida," he said speaking after the National Governors Association meeting at the White House, "It created or maintained at least 87,000 jobs, 27,000 of those jobs are educators and teachers throughout our state. I dare say what impact the would have on the students if those teachers were out of work, unable to put bread on the table for their families."
So it save government jobs....government jobs that should have been budgeted and paid for with current year appropriations. If they needed stimulus money for those teachers then they didn't budget properly to begin with.
Are you talking about those same state budgets that were impacted by the economic downturn?So it save government jobs....government jobs that should have been budgeted and paid for with current year appropriations. If they needed stimulus money for those teachers then they didn't budget properly to begin with.
Schwarzenegger says the stimulus worked
Our Money?? LOL, if you reside in a Red State the odds are you've been getting money collected from other states where as CA hasn't. The amount of the Stimulus they've received just means less that they had to pay in to support dead beat Red States.Why does Arnie need Obama's money... uugghuumm... sorry... I mean our money? Hasn't California been under the control of far-left progressives for a very long time now? Why isn't it then an economic, political, and religious utopian society the far-left keeps promising?
Oh yeah... forgot... it's all W's fault.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/02/fl-gov-charlie-crist-stimulus-did-create-jobs.html
FL Gov Charlie Crist: Stimulus Did Create Jobs
Florida Governor Charlie Crist says Republicans who say the stimulus has not created jobs are simply wrong.
"Thats not the case in Florida," he said speaking after the National Governors Association meeting at the White House, "It created or maintained at least 87,000 jobs, 27,000 of those jobs are educators and teachers throughout our state. I dare say what impact the would have on the students if those teachers were out of work, unable to put bread on the table for their families."
He did that and he stayed with the bailout. He took care of automakers and banks. Where do you think all the bailout money went? They stimulated those businesses directly. Banks made billions, so they should have created jobs, right? He did his part.
I think the Stim plan did both.
around half of the Stimulus package was in the form of tax cuts.
No.
The banks bailout and auto maker bailout were seperate from the Stimulous bill.
No, banks don't create jobs. It's not their job to do that.
Where did the stimulous money go? Most hasn't been spent yet. A lot for earmarks/pork. A lot went to states (so they wouldn't incur debt etc to keep up their payroll), some went for extended unemployment, and more for highway/road repaving that were alway in the line-up ('shovel ready').
There was a very small program in the Stim most don't know about, IMO it should have been much larger and would have stimulated small businesses directly. I can't remember it's formal name, but it was a loan guarantee program through the SBA. A business that had been established for at least a coupe of years (i.e., no new businesses for some reason) and had in the past shown a profit could borrow up to $30K. the loan carried no interest and no payback required for 2 years. Banks making these loans were guaranteed against loss and the SBA paid them the interest (so the borrowing business didn't have to).
A much bigger program along these lines would have been far more effective as stimulous. and it's likely that much of would have been paid back so that the stimulous would have costs much less.
The SBA exists to help small businesses with bank loans by guaranteeing that the banks won't lose (much) money if the busines defaults. Because the loan is guaranteed (lor risk), the banks will charge a lower interest rate.
We have the tools available, but this administration has so far refused to use them. Instead of Obama publicly blasting banks for not lending to businesses, he could have pushed an SBA program that would have banks lending.
Either they don't understand enough about small businesses, banks and gov agancies like the SBA, or they don't really care enough about small businesses to offer anything but lip service.
Fern
And Nero fiddled while Rome burned...
So what.
Oh, the unintentional irony.
Hint: Nero filibustered while Rome burned.
A number of other major construction projects occurred in Nero's late reign. Nero had the marshes of Ostia filled with rubble from the fire. He erected the large Domus Aurea.[74] In 67, Nero attempted to have a canal dug at the Isthmus of Corinth.[75] Ancient historians state that these projects and others exacerbated the drain on the State's budget.[76]
The economic policy of Nero is a point of debate among scholars. According to ancient historians, Nero's construction projects were overly extravagant and the large number of expenditures under Nero left Italy "thoroughly exhausted by contributions of money" with "the provinces ruined."[77][78] Modern historians, though, note that the period was riddled with deflation and that it is likely that Nero's spending came in the form of public works projects and charity intended to ease economic troubles.[79]
Normally, I wouldn't have a problem with small SBA loans.
But the rate of default from 2007 has doubled to around 15% this year and the New SBA Loan program to aid small firms is expected to see 60% default rate.
Just another way for The Big Banks to raise capital - LOL
--
Schwarzenegger might be a "Republican" but he is far from a conservative.
Schwarzenegger was emasculated when his legislation to save California was blocked by the teachers union (and others) and has been a lame duck in the state ever since.
That being said, when you spend a trillion dollars something will happen. If the investment was worth it is a different story.
The first thing Schwarzenegger did was cut taxes, without cutting spending, a standard Republican act- which blew a huge hole in the budget. When he tried to pass a raft of right-wing initiatives, the public rejected them. This is not a right-wing state. He has continued to grow the government. Right wing Republicans have veto power over the budget because of Prop 13, and have come up with zero real solutions for California's problems.
Now the Republicans are running another billionaire with zero govt experience for Governor.
Bull....Schwarzengger has tried (in vain) to cut spending over and over again but leftist union thugs and dems continue to derail any attempt to curtail spending while offering no viable solution as to how to deal with the ever increasing mammoth size CA's fiscal deficit each year.
Meanwhile major corporations (aka those who pay the bulk of taxes in CA) are fleeing the state in droves for nearby states which provide lower taxes rates and less regulations. The dem plan is to keep all their pork barrel social programs while trying to squeeze more money at out of an ever shrinking tax base which has realized that there is an alternative to doing business in a state run by a liberal dominated legislature which considers them as the fall guy for social woes but the ones to be taxed to death when lib politicians need to go on spending sprees.
Idiot. You are totally ignoring that Schwarzenegger was elected after a recall of Gray Davis BECAUSE OF THE HUGE HOLE IN THE BUDGET. I'm no fan of Schwarzenegger, but he's done better than anyone else for decades in running that bowl of granola. California is simply a failed government model.The first thing Schwarzenegger did was cut taxes, without cutting spending, a standard Republican act- which blew a huge hole in the budget. When he tried to pass a raft of right-wing initiatives, the public rejected them. This is not a right-wing state. He has continued to grow the government. Right wing Republicans have veto power over the budget because of Prop 13, and have come up with zero real solutions for California's problems.
Now the Republicans are running another billionaire with zero govt experience for Governor.
The Leftists in charge of the state govt have agreed to lots of cuts, and very little in tax increases.
The stubborn Republicans would rather the state decline than offer real solutions.
Their answer-always more tax cuts.
Losers will always cut and run. Real Californians will rise up and prosper once again.
And some of the low tax paradises have unemployment problems as bad or worse than California.
After being backed into a corner by Arnold, the GOP and forced to pass a balance budget or else face a shutdown of state government.
Real solutions? Like taxing businesses and home owners into oblivion to support 1/3rd of all social welfare cases in the nation? That's not a solution that is pure stupidity.
Libs answers to everything is to continue to spend, spend, spend and spend some more like a drunken shopoholic who believes they have a bottomless credit reserve to burn through at tax payer expense. Sorry but CA's budget woes won't be solved by platitudes of wishful thinking.
Those states will bounce back faster then CA will along while they also continue to siphon off more private sector jobs form CA.