Current Event #1

While discussing current events this week, I ran across an article in the Washington Post that kind of caught my attention. The article was called "Obama Exaggerates His Influence on Stimulus Plan" written by Micahel Dobbs. Just in case anyone isn't sure of what the goal of a stimulus plan is, a stimulus plan is supposed to pump more money back into the economy by giving it to citizens through tax cuts, social security checks, etc. which they most likely will end up spending and that money will end up back into the economy. Basically, the article discussed how Obama came up with his own stimulus plan that is supposed to inject $75 billion back into the economy and how he's taking credit for the stimulus plan that was adopted by Congress. Obama's plan was going to provide an immediate $250 tax cut to workers and their families, $250 temporary bonus to seniors in their Social Security checks, plus an additional $250 tax cuts to workers and an additional $250 to seniors if the economy continues to falter. His plan was announced in January and was said to bear a passing resemblance to the stimulus plan adopted by Congress on February 7. He claims that his ideas "formed the basis" of the final stimulus plan. That particular stimulus package amounted to $152 billion and included $600 for individuals, $1200 for couples, and $300 for low-income seniors and disabled veterans.

I think that Obama's exaggeration of his influence on the plan was just something to draw attention to his campaign. I believe that Obama did come up with his own plan for the economy but he gave himself too much credit for the final plan that amounted to $77 billion more than his. The article also mentions how John McCain claimed that Obama didn't even show up for the final Senate vote on the package despite of the fact that McCain himself didn't show up for an important Senate vote the previous day. I think this whole dispute over the stimulus plan is just another result of the competition stirring up between the candidates.