Latest Stimulus News

July 15, 2010: The national debt just topped $1 trillion, thanks in large part to all of the stimulus packages. To put that massive number in perspective, it's $47,000 per person for every citizen in America.

July 1, 2010: Recent economic news shows that consumer spending is down and will probably stay down for years, hampering the overall economic recovery. High unemployment rate and lower net worths are preventing people from spending and borrowing.

December 7, 2009:  Only 11,000 jobs were cut in November 2009, the lowest number of job losses since December 2007, which is considered the start of the recession.

November 15, 2009: Job loss totals for August 2009 were 216,000; September was 263,000; and October was 190,000.

August 15, 2009: Job loss totals for July 2009 were reported at 247,000, the lowest for 2009, but still a discouraging blow.

July 26, 2009: With each passing day, Americans are losing hope that President Barak Obama can fix the economy. In comparing a mid-January 2009 poll to a July 2009 poll, the number of people who believe that Obama can fix the economy has dropped by 19%.

July 19, 2009: The unemployment rate, which was 7.6 percent in Janaury 2009 reached 9.5 percent in June 2009 and is expected to keep climbing throughout the year.

July 12, 2009: Job loss totals for June 2009 totalled 467,000.

July 5, 2009: Older workers are having a harder time finding jobs. On average, people over the age of 55 are staying jobless for 30 weeks, compared to 21 weeks for those who are younger. The unemployment rate for this age group is at seven percent, the highest level since 1948. Some employers might be reluctant to hire more mature workers because of: less proficiency with technology, higher salary demands, and/or the fear that they won't stay long in the jobs.

June 21, 2009: In April 2009, consumer spending dropped by $15.7 billion, the second largest drop ever, only surpassed by the March 2009 plummet of $16.6 billion. People are spending less, saving more, and decreasing their reliance on credit cards as the economy falters.

June 14, 2009: As of this week, according to the Obama Administration, only about 5% of the $787 billion from the stimulus package passed in February 2009 had actually been distributed.

May 31, 2009: Housing lenders are now seeing a third wave of foreclosoures, this time affecting borrowers with good credit and fixed rate home loans. This wave of defaults is attributed to rising unemployment rates. It follows the first two rounds of foreclosures, when speculators and sub-prime borrowers walked away from loans.

May 25, 2009: In an effort to encourage first time home buying, the 2009 Obama Stimulus package included an $8,000 tax credit for first time home buyers. Many local housing agencies across the country are offering to lend part, or all of that money, so that buyers can once again get into a house with no money down. To qualify for the credit, homebuyers have to purchase the home by November 30, 2009.

May 10, 2009: Job loss totals for April 2009 were released, and the number was better than expected, but still grim at 539,000 jobs lost.

April 26, 2009: The 19 largest banks in America are undergoing stress tests, ordered by the Obama Administration. The purpose of the bank stress tests is to get an accurate picture of the health of the banking systems. Banks will be separated into categories: healthy, need more TARP money, beyond hope.

April 24, 2009: All 26 cities with the highest foreclosure rates are located in just four states: California, Florida, Arizona, and Nevada. Las Vegas has the highest foreclosure rate in the nation, at 4.5%.

April 22, 2009: Unemployment is now 10% or higher in the following states: Indiana, Oregon, Washington, West Virginia, Michigan, California, South Carolina, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and Nevada.

April 18, 2009:  In the past week, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs reported better than expected earnings. The news cheered Wall Street, which took it as a sign that TARP (the Bush stimulus introduced in October 2008) is helping stabilize the banking industry.

April 16, 2009: Economists are divided as to whether pumping billions of dollars into the economy through a myriad of economic stimulus packages will lead to inflation. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says no, others say yes. Bernanke is betting that high jobless rates, idle factories, and lower energy costs will keep inflation in check.

April 14, 2009: The billions of dollars in economic stimulus package money that have been poured into the mortgage industry are finally beginning to show positive results. The average interest rate for a 30-year mortgage is hovering around 4.5%, making it the perfect time to refinance. 

April 11, 2009: President Obama sees a "glimmer of hope" in the economy as a sliver of consumer confidence returns and low interest rates on mortgages begin to lead to mass refinancings.

April 8, 2009: Just to clarify details of the 2009 IRS economic stimulus, no checks are being sent out this year, except to people on Social Security and retired government and railroad workers. In late May or early June of this year, those people will receive a one-time $250 economic stimulus check. For everyone else, starting in April, an average of $10 per week was added to paychecks. This Obama stimulus will continue through 2010, amounting to $400 per year or 6.2% of wages, whichever is less. Last year, the Bush stimulus sent $600 checks to American workers, as part of a $178 billion economic stimulus package designed to jumpstart the moribund economy.

April 4, 2009: Despite the massive economic stimulus plans, bills, and packages that were introduced in 2008 and the first quarter of 2009, the American economy continues to shed jobs at an alarming rate. Another 663,000 jobs were lost in March 2009. An estimated 13 million people are jobless, an 8.5% unemployment rate. The rate would be 15.6%, if workers who gave up or took part-time jobs were included in the unemployment figures. All told, 5.1 million American jobs have been lost since the recession began in December 2007. Economists predict that another 2.4 million jobs will be lost in the next year, and presumably this number takes into account the economic stimulus efforts of the Bush Administration and Obama administration.

April 3, 2009: All of the economic stimulus packages seem to be kicking in, at least in the eyes of Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average saw its best four-week window (in terms of percentage gain), since 1933, when the country was in the throes of its last Great Depression. Stocks rose 20.4% in this four-week period.

April 3, 2009: At the G-20 global summit in London, the world's most prosperous countries agreed to inject $1 trillion into global financial markets and to enforce more stringent regulations, aimed at avoiding a repeat of the 2008-2009 financial meltdown.

April 2, 2009: The federal tax credit, Making Work Pay, kicked in for most American workers, a $10 bump per week. This tax credit is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the $787 billion economic stimulus package pushed through by the Obama Administration in February 2009. The tax credit extends through 2010, and it represents 6.2% of a worker's wages, up to $400 per year.

April 2, 2009: We're going to need every bit of that economic stimulus money that's being pumped into the housing industry. In the last year, a home-price index for 20 major American cities shows that housing prices have dropped an average of 19% in the past year. Dallas had the most stable prices, only dropping 4.8%, and Phoenix was the hotbed for housing trouble, falling 35%.

March 28, 2009: The State of Colorado just qualified for an extension in federal unemployment benefits, when the state's three-month unemployment average exceeded 6%. Typically, Colorado unemployment benefits have lasted 26 weeks. Thanks to the Bush Administration economic stimulus package that was implemented in the summer of 2008, the federal government added 20 weeks to those benefits. The Obama economic stimulus package - the American Recovery and Revinvestment Act - which was passed in February 2009, added another 13 weeks. In other words, if you lose your job, you now have 59 weeks to find another one. 

March 24, 2009: The Dow Jones has risen 19% since March 9, largely on news of President Obama’s trillion-dollar “toxic asset purchase" bank program, which is part of Obama's far-reaching economic stimulus plan.