Will The Third Economic Stimulus Package Help American Families?

The American economy has experienced a difficult few years tercer estimulo economicos. With the 2008 financial crisis still looming large, the country’s leaders turned to fiscal stimulus and quantitative easing to spur the economy back to health. The result was a massive multi-trillion-dollar stimulus package, which helped the nation get back on its feet. Now, as the economy enters recovery, the time has come to evaluate the effectiveness of that effort. Did the stimulus work? Or was it an expensive failure? Will the third stimulus package be any more effective than the first?

Economists generally agree that the stimulus did very little to significantly boost employment. Instead, the bulk of the money was directed toward programs that would be in place no matter what. For example, the stimulus provided funding for job training and education programs that had been lacking up to that point. Even so, the program’s effects were not negligible. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the stimulus prevented the equivalent of 1.3 million job losses. Even so, it’s safe to say that the stimulus failed to achieve its main goal: to create jobs.

What Will the Third Economic Stimulus Package Focus On?

Like its predecessors, the third stimulus package will likely consist of a variety of spending proposals. As in the past, the bulk of the funding will go toward programs that have bipartisan support. In this particular case, however, the package may lack the overall economic impact of the last one. That’s because the American economy is now far healthier than it was in 2009. In fact, economic growth is now back to a healthy rate, which could reduce the relative importance of the stimulus. On the other hand, there’s some reason to believe that the package could still have a positive impact on African American and Hispanic communities, which were disproportionately harmed by the recession.

Infrastructure Investment

A major focus of the third stimulus package will be infrastructure investment. Like the first and second packages, this will fall under the heading of “shovel-ready jobs.” Indeed, public works projects were one of the first major federal initiatives after the Great Depression. The projects helped put Americans to work during the Great Depression, and they could do so again.

To promote investment in infrastructure, the third stimulus package may include special tax incentives and other financial carrots. The government could also provide greater access to financing and insurance, which would make big projects more attractive.

Social Security tercer estimulo economicos

The third stimulus package may also include some minor tweaks to Social Security. These could include increasing the maximum amount that social security recipients can earn without triggering a penalty, means-testing the program, or improving its administration. These are small steps, and they do not address the long-term issues that threaten Social Security’s survival. However, they could mitigate the hit to the broader economy caused by a decline in social security contributions.

Education tercer estimulo economicos

The third stimulus package may also include a modest investment in education, including pre-kindergarten programs. The idea is to put more money into the hands of families that can better ensure that their children are educated. This is another approach to mitigating the hit to the broader economy caused by a decline in social security contributions.

Research and Development

Finally, the third stimulus package may include modest funding for research and development. The hope is that this will kick-start the American innovation engine. As with the first and second packages, the central idea here is to encourage increased private-sector investment. This, in turn, could boost growth and create additional jobs tercer estimulo economicos.

Child Tax Credit Increase tercer estimulo economicos

To offset the cost to taxpayers of the infrastructure investment, the third stimulus package may also include a modest increase in the child tax credit. This credit is available to families with children, and it can be very helpful. To date, more than 10% of all new jobs have been created through the Child Tax Credit.

Conclusion

After three years, the American economy remains in need of a major new stimulus. There is little evidence that the “shovel-ready” projects funded by the last stimulus have created many jobs. Moreover, the spending programs in place are not only fully funded but also mostly benefit the country regardless of what happens to the economy. There is some hope, however, that the third stimulus package could have some positive impact on African American and Hispanic communities, which were disproportionately harmed by the recession tercer estimulo economicos.