Lots of folks on both sides of the political spectrum have their opinions on whether the $787 billion stimulus bill passed shortly after Barack Obama became President last year has accomplished what it set out to achieve. While many opponents of the spending bill will tell you that it has been a waste of money, those who were for the bill, as well as those who just wanted to see something, anything, done to jump start the economy, have a different opinion.

While there are many components to the stimulus bill such as helping businesses stay open, bailing out the ailing automobile industry, finding alternative sources of energy, and raising funding for various health care and social service programs for Americans, the one that is on most everyone’s mind is the job situation, i.e. job security and jobs creation. Sure, everyone likes knowing there are stimulus checks in the mail, but when you’ve been out of work for anywhere from a couple of months to a year or two, you don’t necessarily see how a check for a few hundred dollars is going to make much of a difference in your bottom line. For some families, that is merely a couple of weeks’ worth of groceries, tops.

However, believe it or not, there just may be some good news coming down the pike for everyone concerned about the jobs situation in America. According to NY Times reporter, David Leonhardt, in his February 16, 2010 article, “Judging Stimulus by Job Data Reveals Success,” some of the top research firms in the county—IHS Global Insight, Macroeconomic Advisers and Moody’s Economy.com all estimate that 1.6 to 1.8 million jobs have so far been created and when all is said and done, we will be looking at upwards of 2.5 million jobs created from stimulus money spent, and those are conservative estimates.

But with unemployment figures continuing to hover at around the 10% mark, one of the highest in recent history, it is no wonder that some people still don’t see much to cheer about. Congress is therefore considering another smaller “jobs bill” focused directly on jobs creation to quiet skeptics, many of whom still say that we are no better off now than when the stimulus bill was passed.

If we look at the whole jobs picture and not just jobs creation, we must note that money from the stimulus package so far has helped states keep service personnel such as police and firemen, teachers and healthcare workers on the job in America’s communities. In addition, stimulus money has helped extend unemployment benefits and food stamp programs for families struggling while unemployed. We must remember that saving existing jobs and keeping families going through tough economic times is just as important as creating new jobs on the market.

Critics of the stimulus package, those who say that things would have been about the same without the spending bill, have no proof to back up their statements. Had the country stayed on the same course it was on coming out of the Bush administration, most financial experts claim that the hard recession the country was in would have more than likely gone into a depression.

Perhaps if we look at the whole picture, we can see that just throwing money quickly at a problem doesn’t make that problem go away. However, if you take an intelligent and thoughtful approach to what needs to be done first to put a patch on the problem and buy some valuable time while working diligently to figure out your next step, that just possibly the money that is still waiting to be spent can now go toward programs that will have a more direct and major impact on the working sector of our country. The rest of the money can now go toward building and re-building roads, bridges and the country’s infrastructure state by state. Talk of building high-speed rail systems in many of our major cities can only serve to create more jobs and more tax revenue so that the money spent will quickly be regained.

With people going back to work, the tax revenue again starts to rise, tax credits can flow more freely to businesses who hire more people, and the buying power of America increases. This is akin to priming a pump that has temporarily stopped working. To get it going again, you have to put a little water down into the pump so that it will start sucking water up from the ground. With this stimulus bill and perhaps a smaller “jobs bill,” the country’s pump will again be producing enough economic wealth for all to share.

In February 2009, President Obama signed a $787 billion stimulus package into law. That is a lot of money to start handing out and so, to make sure it gets into the right hands and is properly spent, Obama also created the Recovery Act and Transparency Board and appointed Earl Devaney as head of the oversight board.

President Obama also put Vice President Joe Biden in charge of overseeing the states’ spending of stimulus money. This was an important step for two reasons. Number one, after witnessing the payment of outlandish bonuses to banking and insurance executives with the bank bailouts in the previous year, Americans would have to be assured that part of the recovery money wouldn’t also be misused in such a blatant way; and number two, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that without tight oversight, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that some of the funds would be wasted and/or abused, making it that much harder the next time around to get backing for any more stimulus bills.

In addition to creating the Recovery Act and Transparency Board, Obama set up the Recovery.Gov Track the Money website that is accessible to every American so that they can check in periodically and see exactly how the money is being spent. Obviously, the Obama administration understands the importance of accountability because as Joe Biden says, “If we don't get this right, folks, this is the end of the opportunity to convince the Congress that anything should go to the states.”

In addition to oversight at the federal level, governors of each state receiving funds from the stimulus bill are appointing task forces, working groups and even “czars” to ensure there is no fraudulent spending of the funds. You can look up your state and see if it has developed such an accountability website. The site for the State of Ohio, Ohio.gov/Recovery is a good example of what is needed to keep government “honest.” When looking for a site for your particular state, be sure to always look for a website that ends in .gov as that will be the indicator that you are looking at an official state government site.

Before setting up the websites and receiving the stimulus money, state and local representatives from every state spent a day in Washington last year learning from administration and agency officials just what is necessary to track the large amounts of money that would be flowing into their communities for various projects. They were warned by Devaney that there would be no tolerance for policy spending mistakes, and although there would be no money earmarked for state and local auditors, he asked that each state watchdog group design some type of uniform method to collect data so that spending and results could be properly measured.

Many in attendance at the meeting were quite aware of the probability of some fraud and misspending of government funds, but were also willing to work with the government to make sure that this program was properly carried out as best they could handle it.

Now, as we have reached the one year milestone of the passage of the stimulus package, we are beginning to see some results coming out of the various states as well as federal government programs that have received funds. As we head further into the future and see more funds released for projects such as high-speed rail systems in several of our larger cities, we should all take the time occasionally to check not only the government website but also our individual state websites to keep an eye on what is being spent and how. After all, it is our money at work and we have every right to know how it is being spent.

Sources:
CNN Politics.com “State, local watchdogs to keep eye on recovery spending,” by Sasha Johnson, 3/20/09
Recovery.gov Track the Money