Stimulus opposition is political posturing

Will political posturing hurt economic recovery?

The July 13th Daily Herald featured a story stating that Republicans lined up on Sunday the 12th in opposition to a 2nd economic stimulus package. The message was that the programs in the ARRA bill, Obama's stimulus package, were a "flop" and haven't fulfilled their hype.

The bill became law on Feb. 17, about five months ago. According to the story, only 6.8 percent of funds have been spent. Many of the programs aren't scheduled to begin until later years, 2011 to 2016 for the health information technology provisions. The President has stated that he wants to give the stimulus bill time to work before discussing another spending bill and always contended that the bill would take 2 years to have full effect.

So what were Republican politicians doing labeling the stimulus bill a failure at this early stage and taking a stand against future spending that the President currently opposes? Congressional elections take place in November, 2010 so it is possible that the party hopes this tactic can boost financial support. Maybe they were posturing to raise the GOP's reputation in these tough times.

We all know that the economy has a strong emotional component. We see it in the way consumers are withholding purchases and vacations because of an uncertain future. This continues to feed our unemployment problem during the worst recession since the Great Depression.

So how ill-conceived is the notion of labeling the stimulus a failure at this point in time simply for political gain? Do these officials intend to "well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office" or just play a dangerous game that threatens to slow our economic recovery?

David Troland

Arlington Heights