While I was running my usual kilometers in the treadmill, I heard over CNN that Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee; hopes to schedule a vote for the stimulus package which would coincide with the week of the US President Elect’s inauguration in about two weeks. This is a nice way of putting public perception and publicity together in one package. It’s definitely a nice way to start the year with this historic President. The President elect will be talking some more over the resistance he is getting from his own Democrats in the senate because he surprisingly is getting “the treatment” from his own senators.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that a bigger planned stimulus package is being sought by President-elect Barack Obama and it could give the economy the much-needed lift, but other steps must be taken to strenghen the shaky financial system and for any recovery to be seen. I just hope they do this the soonest possible time.
We all know that he also plans to put tax cuts for workers but in these tough times people don't respond all that well to little changes because a $500 to $1000 dollars in the middle class is still too low. I wonder how it would really be of benefit to those who are still in debt. A lot of them can’t pay their house mortgages and have probably moved to a lesser expensive home. Some of them becoming homeless because aside from the higher rates they received, they lose their jobs. Banks that were supposed to bail them out in the first place caused all these problems. I don’t even know if the $3,000 tax credit for companies to hire or retrain workers is going to help that much because of the US’ lack of purchasing power these days. Sales have significantly also dropped last December which further strains their plans to recover soon.