The Stimulus Tracker - Where the $$ are Going!

Economic Rescue:
What the government's money is intended to do: The Federal Government has nearly $3 Trillion invested in the economy right now, and stimulus funds are just a small portion of that investment. Where is the rest of the money going? And what is it intended to do?
1. Make credit more accessible: Term auction facility; Primary dealer credit facility; Term securities lending facility; Student loan guarantees; Foreign dollar swaps; Money market guarantees; Commercial paper funding facility
2. Bail out companies: Bear Stearns; Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac; Troubled banks; AIG; US Central adn WeCorp Credit Unions
3. Help the Auto Industry: Cash for clunkers; Enegy efficiency loans; emegency funding; auto supplier support program.
4. Stimulate the economy: Economic Stimulus Act of 2008; 2009 stimulus package
5. Prevent Foreclosures: FHA housing rescue; 2009 foreclosure fix
6. Extend unemployment aid: Benefit extensions
7. Take over Failed Banks: 2008 FDIC bank takeovers; 2009 FDIC bank takeovers
Total Allocated: $10.2533 trillion
Total Spent: $2.92301 trillion

Economic Ups and Downs

Thank you President Obama! The Stimulus IS Working!

Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! Whether keeping people employed or creating new jobs, it is clear, the stimulus is working. And, this is just the beginning...additional jobs are being created for multi-cultural Americans!

CNN Reports on six Americans across the country who say: "The Stimulus Got Me My Job!"

Bobby Jones, 55 Aiken, S.C. Administrative General Foreman U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Site I'm working on the DUO project [depleted uranium oxide], I was in D&D [deactivation and decommissioning] and I moved over here in October. They needed someone to run the night shift so I came over. It's still stimulus funded and it's keeping me employed. The night is cold, but I'm still close to home. Even the night shift at home is better than the day shift [in another city, away from my family]. I go to work in the evening and get to go home in the morning. This part of the project will probably be over in another month. I don't know what will be next but I'm pretty sure there will be something else.

Wellington Hall, 26 Providence, R.I. Traffic engineer Rhode Island Department of Transportation I just got assigned as a project manager of a highway safety improvement project -- the goal is to identify intersections with high crash rates and work with consultants to mitigate accidents and make them safer. It feels good to know that these are some of the roads I drive on and that my coworkers and friends drive on. It feels good to know I'm making an impact. Right now I'm working on other things too, like using renewable energy to save on electrical costs.There are always things to keep me busy. This job has definitely helped me. I bought a house in August with my fiancé, got engaged in November and graduated last week. None of this would be possible without the stimulus and I'm very grateful for that. We're planning on getting married some time in 2011.

Patricia Dunn, 43 Mount Kisco, N.Y.Nurse practitioner Open Door Family Medical Centers I had wanted to work for this organization six months prior to being offered my current position. They had a part-time opening but I needed full-time. When the [stimulus] funding came through, they offered me a position. Without a doubt, the funding made it possible for me to have this job. We've also, through stimulus, been able to hire more employees and that's great. The organization has hired several new physicians who started a few months ago. If nothing else, I have job security and few people can say that. In this environment, where I have a lot of friends that are now unemployed, it's a very good feeling. I am very happy and very busy here. I handle everything from the cradle to the grave. I cannot imagine doing anything else.

Sonya Liadis, 47 Prescott Valley, Ariz. Personnel coordinator Humboldt Unified School District I had a six-month position through Northern Arizona Council of Government, but I didn't get hired full time because they were on a hiring freeze. I found a new job on my own but my experience with the town definitely landed me the job. I had told my old boss that I had a second interview with the school district and the mayor wrote me a letter of recommendation. It probably didn't hurt. I was hired in December. Before, with the city, I was involved in recruiting new hires, which is my responsibility here as well. I'm verifying education and certification, employment contracts and doing administrative work like I did with the mayor. It's pretty interesting. I know I haven't been here that long but so far I like it.

Esmeralda Pineda, 34 Chicago, Ill. Accountant Serious Materials I am in the same role in accounting and I also do HR. We are making windows for low-income housing and homeowners who want to save money on their energy bills. We've been putting a ton of work into retooling our factory for all kinds of glass and window products. We're seeing more and more interest in energy efficiency retrofits and in better windows that save money and cost the same as regular windows. Homeowners get a tax credit for energy efficient windows -- and all our windows qualify. I am extremely happy working here and see myself having many opportunities to climb up the corporate ladder with Serious Materials. My husband is still working too. He's been getting a lot more business for his residential construction company, which is great.

Ronald Walker, 44 Cedar Park, Tex. Software architectIBM

I used to work on a product for IBM, which is used for analyzing large quantities of data to find trends and forecasts. I'm working on the same project but it's more focused on aerospace right now -- that's been my focus for the last eight months. The technology project I'm working on now is not a part of the stimulus project but it's more of a tool that can be applied to that realm. I see this as a long-term project for me. IBM has tremendous opportunities available so I'm not worried about what`s coming next. I'm quite happy with where I am right now. I still work out of my house and the telecommuting aspects are wonderful.

U.S. New Home Sales Jump 9.6%! Thank you President Obama for Improving our Economy!

More Good Economic News! Thank you President Obama for your diligence in fixing the economic mess left for you by the previous administration. Thank you for standing strong as the unpatriotic republican pundits like Limbaugh and Beck wish for your failure and destruction of our economy. Stay strong President Obama. WE THE PEOPLE support you!

Bloomberg.com reports:
U.S. New Home Sales Jump 9.6%, Most in Four Years
Purchases of new homes in the U.S. jumped more than forecast in July, adding to signs that the economy is rebounding from the worst recession since the 1930s. Sales increased 9.6 percent, the most since February 2005, to a 433,000 annual pace, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. The number of houses on the market dropped to the lowest level in 16 years.

The gain in sales, together with rising purchases of existing homes and steadying prices, indicate the housing slump may be ending as Federal Reserve efforts to thaw credit and the Obama administration’s first-time homebuyer incentives lift demand. Job losses and mounting foreclosures mean any rebound in construction may be limited. “We’re seeing a clear pickup in housing activity,” said Michael Moran, chief economist at Daiwa Securities America Inc. in New York. “The correction phase is essentially over and we expect continued improvement, though not a vigorous pickup.”

Homebuilders’ stocks surged after the report, with the Standard & Poor’s Supercomposite Homebuilding Index gaining 3.7 percent as of 10:23 a.m. in New York. The broader S&P 500 Stock Index was up 0.4 percent at 1,031.95. Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields were little changed, at 3.45 percent.

Racist Rush Limbaugh & Racist rightwing Shock Jocks are ranting LIES to the Elderly to Scare them to Hate our President!

I am so sick of the Republicans and their LIES about the Healthcare program.
Today, as I was driving home, I flipped the radio station over to the AM Shock Jock dial just to see what they were up to. The red-necked, screaming radio shock jock was talking negatively about our President Obama and the proposed Healthcare bill. He was screaming LIES to the elderly members of his audience. He said our President was a Nazi. He said the Healthcare bill would kill/murder the elderly. He said our President was attempting to be the Messiah, just like Hitler in Nazi Germany. Then he played this song:
Grandma got run over by Obamacare
Grandma got run over by Obamacare
While waiting for the move to eternity
We know that we cannot live forever
But now they expect us all to go early
(unfortunately, there is more.)

Extremist, racist Rush Limbaugh is also ranting on his radioshow, comparing our President to Hitler. He compares Obama's policies to Euthanasia and Nazism. It is Limbaugh, Beck, Dobbs, Hannity and Malkin and other National Teabagger Groups that are LYING to the American Public. They are inciting people to violence. Limbaugh is spewing racism. Racist, racist Limbaugh! He hates our President and compares him to Adolph Hitler. He scares the elderly LYING, telling his audience the healthcare policy is euthanasia.

The Insurance and Pharmaceutical lobbies are backing Limbaugh. Limbaugh and his ilk and are brewing a Hate Storm. They are LYING and Brainwashing the weak minded in our country and Lying about what is contained in the Healthcare bill. There is no Euthanasia. There is no Deathcare. They are LIARS, funded by the Lobbyists to LIE LIE LIE. Such blind, mindless rage.

Limbaugh, Beck, Dobbs, Malkin and other extremists are Domestic Terrorists and TRAITORS! They are in cahoots with the other terrorists across the world. They are targetting the President and his administration and our country, wishing that we will ALL Fail! They are racists and are pandering to those in their audiences who are racists and are upset that a minority is our President.

They are angry that the stimulus plan is working. They are angry that the Cash for Clunkers plan is Working! They are angry that the unemployment rate dropped from 9.5 to 9.4 in July for the first time in 15 months and more Americans are working and the end of the Recession is happening now, so quickly, under Obama's watch.
It is time for Americans to stand up to Limbaugh, Beck, Dobbs, Malkin and all of the other right wing extremists who wish for our President's and America's demise - Failure.

Let the haters know no one is listening to them. We want our President and America to SUCCEED!! We want our Stimulus Plan to work and our Economy to improve. We want Cash for Clunkers. We want Universal Healthcare. We know our President is a citizen. We want America to SUCCEED!!!

God Bless America!
God Bless our President Obama!

Obama Economy Successes: Senate Passes Cash for Clunkers 2!

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted 60 to 37 on Thursday to approve another $2 billion for the "cash for clunkers" program, giving new life and money to the federal government's most wildly popular economic stimulus program.

The public's eager embrace of the initial $1 billion program stunned lawmakers, who as recently as Monday doubted that they could muster the votes to keep it alive.

The program, which allows consumers up to $4,500 if they trade in older gas- guzzling vehicles for new models, exhausted its first billion dollars in a few days. People flooded auto dealers seeking clunker money and spurring car sales to their highest levels in many months — and dealers pleaded for the program to be extended.

"The reality is this is a program that is working. Consumers believe it is working. Small business people believe it is working," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.

Still, winning approval wasn't easy. The Republican Party of NO tried to put a kibosh on it. However the Democrats were successful in their WIN for the American People!!

Obama Speaks before Joint Session of Congress: Glimmer of Hope Amid Economic Crisis

"WE WILL RECOVER!"
"The time to take charge of our future is here"
Stimulus Plan:
Priorities: 3.5 Million New Jobs; Reduce Foreclosures
Focus on:
1. Energy: Clean, Renewable Energy
2. Healthcare: Cant afford to put it on hold. Time is now!
3. Education: Expand and Improve Early Education. College Affordable.
The Washington Post Reports:
President Obama plans to sound a note of hope at a time of crisis tonight, delivering to a joint session of Congress an address heavily focused on the ailing economy and how to fix it. Five weeks into a presidency already marked by dramatic highs and lows, Obama will tell the lawmakers and luminaries assembled in the House chamber that he sees light at the end of the tunnel, despite rising unemployment, a cratering stock market, teetering banks and an auto industry gasping for breath.
"But while our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before," Obama will say, according to a preliminary excerpt released by the White House.
Obama will lay out his economic recovery plans and discuss the challenges of trying to pull the nation out of its worst recession in decades while setting a course of greater fiscal discipline, according to the White House. Obama is expected to flesh out the details of an economic strategy that some critics - and the markets - have tarred as too short on specifics to inspire confidence. A week after the president signed a $787 billion economic stimulus package, his administration is moving on separate fronts to shore up the housing market by stemming foreclosures and bolster the banking industry, possibly by purchasing shares of Citigroup and Bank of America.
After days of mostly negative news, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke offered a glimmer of optimism today by testifying that 2010 could be a "year of recovery." "The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of this nation. The answers to our problems don't lie beyond our reach," Obama will say, according to the excerpts.
"They exist in our laboratories and universities; in our fields and our factories; in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth. Those qualities that have made America the greatest force of progress and prosperity in human history we still possess in ample measure. What is required now is for this country to pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face, and take responsibility for our future once more."
But Obama will also distribute some blame for the economic crisis.
"We have lived through an era where too often, short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity; where we failed to look beyond the next payment, the next quarter, or the next election," he will say. "A surplus became an excuse to transfer wealth to the wealthy instead of an opportunity to invest in our future. Regulations were gutted for the sake of a quick profit at the expense of a healthy market. People bought homes they knew they couldn't afford from banks and lenders who pushed those bad loans anyway. And all the while, critical debates and difficult decisions were put off for some other time on some other day."
Obama will reiterate his desire to cut the federal budget deficit in half by the end of his first term in office, saying his team has "begun to go line by line through the federal budget in order to eliminate wasteful and ineffective programs. ...
"In this budget, we will end education programs that don't work and end direct payments to large agribusinesses that don't need them. We'll eliminate the no-bid contracts that have wasted billions in Iraq, and reform our defense budget so that we're not paying for Cold War-era weapons systems we don't use."

NCLR Engaged Experts in Housing and Financial Fields to Identify Ways to Restore Latino Financial Security

Today, the NCLR hosted a conference call engaging a number of experts in the housing and financial fields to discuss restoring paths to financial security for Latinos.
Key call participants included: Henry Cisneros, Chairman and CEO, American CityVista; Janis Bowdler, Associate Director, Wealth-Building Policy Project, National Council of La Raza (NCLR); Andrew Jakabovics, Associate Director, Economic Mobility Program, Center for American Progress; Luis Pastor and President and CEO, Latino Community Credit Union, Cooperativa Latina.
Participants on the call gave an update on the status of Latino homeowners and consumers. They provided proposals for restoring the financial safety net in all communities, including calling for solutions that get to the root of the problem, reducing foreclosures and bringing back credit to minority communites.