- March 20, 2009 – There are some ramifications from President Obama's approved $787 billion 2009 stimulus plan. A public outrage ensued over AIG handing out $165 million dollars in bonuses to its employees using the government bail out tax payers’ money. Republicans had vehemently opposed the bill citing, among other things, it was approved too quickly without anyone in congress reading the specifics of the 600+ pages.

F: This has turned out to be a disaster in many ways. For starters AIG employees seem to show extreme audacity and greed rewarding themselves with bonuses using the bail out money. However the real problem lies with the Obama administration. The $165 billion dollars AIG bail out money was allocated with no oversight or restrictions. In fact it was later proved that Obama’s appointee Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was advised that AIG would be handing out $165 million bonuses before the bail out contract between the government and AIG was finalized. Even worse, Connecticut Democrat Senator Chris Dodd (also Chairman of the Banking Committee) claims that the Obama administration insisted Dodd modify the proposal so it would only apply to bail out payments agreed in the future- thus clearing the way for the AIG bonus payouts.A provision was added into the bill that modified the bonus cap to apply only to future bonuses,not those already legally contracted. This has certainly backfired on the Obama administration. There is much more to come including congress discussing implementing an unconstitutional random tax law on AIG bonus money and AIG retaliating by suing the government

- Feb 18, 2009 - President Obama introduces the new stimulus information website called Recovery.gov. The website is aimed at providing transparency to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or the Stimulus package. Recovery.gov highlights the impact by providing simple charts that show the amount of money being appropriated to certain funding blocks and the amount of jobs generated or saved on a state by state map. It also documents a tentative time line which allows for accountability for the different steps used to implement the stimulus.
A : This website is an excellent idea and good gesture towards the American public. It shows Obama is making a great attempt in keeping the American people well informed on where their tax money is being spent via his new economic stimulus plan (The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009). There may be many opponents to the plan itself, however few can argue against the fact that this website provides an open and transparent venue of accountability

- Feb 17, 2009 -  President Obama signs his first major piece of legislation. After weeks of congressional negotiations, the economic stimulus recovery plan (known as the The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) was passed and finally signed by Obama. The final number is a staggering $787 billion package that contains 1/3 tax cuts and 2/3 spending....one of the biggest public spending programs since World War II.
C - : This is a big win for Obama. He got mostly what he wanted. Only time will tell if this plan will work. Give Obama some credit for meeting the Republicans somewhat halfway in agreeing to cut the spending from its original $819 billion to its final $787 billion package. In all, only 3 total Republicans in congress (both house and senate) approved of this bill. Their stance claims there is still too much spending in this plan. Much of it will not stimulate the economy the way in which America needs it to or stimulate the economy in a timely fashion. The spending includes
-$80.9 billion on infrastructure (the money will take years to be allocated to approved projects)
-$82.5 billion for low income workers & jobless benefits (inluding food stamps and welfare)
-$91 billion to education (including $250 million to anaylize student behavior)
-$150 billion to healthcare (including $500 million to healthcare on Indian reservations)
-$400 million to Global warming research
-$7.7 million to federal buildings
-$355 million to STD (sexual transmitted disease) prevention
-$600 million for federal automobiles
-$50 million for arts programs
-$2.4 million in contraception (birth control) programs
-$50 billion in energy (including $250 million to increase energy efficiency in low-income housing
-$12.7 billion in housing (including $4 billion for repairing low-income and public housing
-$9 billion to scientific research
-Billions are going to 40 states that are in financial trouble. Why reward the local state governments who are inundated in corruption, greed and failure? America is still seeking the benefits of George W Bush's Oct 2008 financial rescue plan (Troubled Asset Relief Program- TARP). Over $700 billion of that bill was sent to 400 + banks in 50 states. But what happened to this money? What happened to the banks who were supposed to ease responsible lending practices in order to get the economy flowing again? Obama's historical stimulus recovery bill needs to show results otherwise this could become his "Iraq". Currently his legacy rests on this stimulus bill. On the other hand, Republicans and Conservatives are ready to pounce if this major spending bill fails. And if it does, 2010 will be a good congressional election year for them as they can play the "I told you so" game.

- Jan 27, 2009 - The house voted to pass Obama's stimulus recovery plan. Every Republican voted against the bill. There were also 11 Democrats that voted no. In total there were 244 yes and 188 no. The plan still has to be passed by the senate. Republicans argue that there is too much government spending on social programs and not enough tax relief in this plan
F: Obama ran his campaign on being a uniter and bi-partisanship. However, in this particular case, the stimulus recovery plan has done the complete opposite. He could not convince even just one Republican to support it. In addition not being able to persuade 11 Democrats to support the bill upset many Obama supporters

- Jan 25, 2009 - Obama unveils the specifics of his $819 billion economic stimulus recovery plan. Of this, only $275 billion is tax relief, the remaining is all on spending
D: Obama has presented an enormous spending bill. 600 hundred pages long, it is the highest proposed spending economic stimulus package in history. Millions of American tax payer money is going to government funded entitlement programs such as food stamps and giving tax refunds to people who don't even pay income taxes. Obama has promoted self responsibility, ironically, some of the entitlement programs in this bill encourage people to be less responsible by being too dependent on the government. In addition, much of the spending in the stimulus plan does little to actually stimulate the economy with new jobs. There needs to be less spending in this bill and more tax cuts. Only $275 billion of the total $819 billion goes towards tax cuts. Government spending, historically, has not worked in the past.