ARRA In The Economy

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Involvement of ARRA in the Economy Seven years ago, when Obama first entered the office as a president, he made a promise to the people of the United States. This promise was called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) also known as the stimulus, which had $787 billion bill intended to stimulate the economy(Umhoefer). This massive budget program enacted by Mr. Obama, a democrat, faced its critics and the republicans, but did it accomplish/improve the economy in the United States that was situated as a result of 2008 house market crash? If one goes back to look at the results, he/she can find changes in the country’s infrastructure and the economic growth. In order to reflect the economic challenges in 2008 such as the increase …show more content…

The governments prior to Obama had spent their money on various programs that would strengthen the country’s infrastructure and provide jobs for the unemployed. Although this was true, it had increased the budget deficits largely. Additionally, budget deficits are important as gov’t pays billions of dollars in interests for the borrowal. There were also administrations wasting money on such constructions like duck pond. As Robert Pole, who had advised the gov’t on transportation issues, has noted “[a] stimulus project and an earmark are dangerously similar. Sometimes the government will waste its resources on bridges that truckers won’t use”(“Deficit Spending”). Opponents of budget deficits feared that if the government continues to spend like this, then that would trigger inflation where the prices rise faster than people’s wages. This substantial effect may lead to a recession. So, Obama had to be careful that the money goes to the correct place and correct cause. During his administration, the deficits decreased and yet the money used helped a lot of serviceable organizations. As part of the stimulus program, he cut taxes for people who make less than $250,000 a year and increased taxes for people who make more than that. On top of that, the stimulus has created a pathway to establish healthy United …show more content…

Even facing a lot of criticism from non-budget deficit supporters, Obama still ended up expending large amounts of money. The only reason for that is stated in the Keynesian economics. It argues that gov’t should spend money in such cases like depression or recession, even if it incurs large budget deficits. Before Obama’s arrival as a president, the economy was slightly into a recession caused by a crash in the housing market that led to a complete financial crisis in 2008(“Deficit Spending”). Eventually, Obama, as soon as he took office, needed to do something to resolve this economic problem. Consequently, he followed Keynes’ economic theory. As explained before, he also satisfied the opponents of this program by decreasing wasteful spending. Later, it turned out that the stimulus “raised the nation’s economic output by 2-3% from 2009 to 2011”(Umhoefer). This means that the total value of all goods and services produced in U.S increased. Usually, this happens when companies/businesses offer jobs to tons of people and the production values automatically rise as a

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