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The White House and President Obama have published the numbers! The much discussed and widely publicized $789 billion monetary package called "The Stimulus Package" or more recently, the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" is forecasted to create or save a total of 17,000 Idaho jobs. While the "17,000 new Idaho jobs" number sounds impressive and I certainly am happy our government is helping, what does it really mean…statistically speaking.
Questions, a Bad Answer and Waiting
Will this solve Idaho’s climbing unemployment rate? Is it a cure all? Or is it just a band-aid that will lead to economic ruin? My answer to these questions is "Only time will tell". Anyone who tells you that they know that the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" will solve our problems or make them worse is just plain lying to you.
2008 Unemployment Figures
| Period -2008 Idaho | Number of Unemployed Workers -2008 | Net Change per Month | Unemployment Rate (%) |
| Jan | 21,097 | 2.8 | |
| Feb | 21,510 | 413 | 2.8 |
| Mar | 22,320 | 810 | 3 |
| Apr | 23,031 | 711 | 3.1 |
| May | 26,923 | 3,892 | 3.6 |
| Jun | 28,679 | 1,756 | 3.8 |
| Jul | 30,867 | 2,188 | 4.1 |
| Aug | 34,383 | 3,516 | 4.6 |
| Sep | 37,731 | 3,348 | 5 |
| Oct | 40,238 | 2,507 | 5.3 |
| Nov | 43,355 | 3,117 | 5.7 |
| Dec | 48,961 | 5,606 | 6.4 |
| Total Increase in 2008 | 27,864 | 3.6 |
Idaho Unemployment is steadily rising in 2008 – What about 2009?
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Extra, Extra..Read All About It
As you can see, Idaho has shed almost 28,000 jobs in 2008. Statistically speaking if all the promised (really just guess work) 17,000 new or saved jobs magically materialized way back on January 1st of this year, this would bring us back to only the September/October 2008 time frame in terms of unemployment. I urge you to look at the above chart, graph and numbers. Use your own brain power, research this plan, listen to what your heart tells you and some good old common sense to analyze the situation. I suspect the entire population USA will also need to get out their magic rabbits feet for some added hoping power.
Fence Sitting Thoughts
One could assume that this post is the Bondyweb’s indictment of the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" but it’s not. I think our government needs to do something to help us climb out of this economic mess. Do I think this stimulus package is the right plan? I doubt this plan will solve many problems but there were a lot of very smart people advising our leaders on what they thought would help our country. On the other hand way back in May 2008 I started telling people that the price of gasoline would come way down…down to below $2.00 a gallon. Did the "experts" agree with me? No! There were plenty of these experts saying we were heading for $6.00 a gallon and even $10.00 a gallon gas by the end of 2008.
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Should I (and you) have a reason to be concerned that the current plan will be a total failure? Just keep your fingers crossed, your wallet and credit cards firmly locked in your back pocket. We’ll know soon enough if the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" will do what it has been advertised to do.
Your thoughts and comments are welcome.