Economic Stimulus (Jobs Bills)

This article is one that relates to the lectures in class as well as Professor McLouds 2008 Financial Crisis presentation a few weeks back. With the economy being what it was in 2008, Congress sought to revitalize the economy with an economic stimulus. Those who are unfamiliar with the term, an economic stimulus is an effort to try and pump money into a financially struggling economy with spending, tax cuts, or interest rate reductions. In all, this is to pave the way to grow the economy. Some economists consider cuts in the Interest by the Federal Reserve to be the most effective form of a stimulus. On the other hand, there are always opposing views on the best way to regain growth for an troublesome economy.
With the US economy still continuing to sink in 2008 even after the Fed cut interest rates to almost zero, something was still not working. This put a lot more pressure on congress to create a new stimulus plan.
Prior to President Obama entering office, he began working on a new plan to get the economy out of the slump it was in. In all, congress approved a 787 billion dollar bill that was called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act- this stimulus was not liked at all by the Republicans.
As the unemployment rate began to rise over the 10% level, a new stimulus was needed for the economy. This would cause some more political controversy.