[Update 1] The spending package has decreased to $317 Billion as agreed to in the Senate on February 6th. The most substantial change was a decrease from $79 billion to $39 billion in the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, and a $20 billion elimination of the education modernization, renovation, and repair for public schools.
CNN.com has a very nice interactive chart for the proposed US economic stimulus spending (excluding tax cut provisions). US senators are debating with a revised plan that has an additional $40 billion spending to $391 billion, while the overall package decreased from $825 to $819 billion. [Anyone else lost track of the numbers with all the financial catastrophes, it seems $40 billion is a chump change now?]
This is the biggest government stimulus spending in the US history, and I thought the one in 2008 was big (it was purely rebates & tax incentives with a price tag of $152 billion).
Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program in energy alone is 1/8 of the proposed spending ($50 billion). Other big ticket items include $79 billion for State Fiscal Stabilizing fund (the name doesn't sound good), and $27 billion for Federal Highway Administration.
Where will it end? No one knows, but the mentality right now is we have to do something than nothing. "Save for a rainy day" seems like an obvious time tested advice, yet it seems we have forgotten that collectively as individuals, corporations, and even governments in the western world.
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