Only A Fraction Of Stimulus Cash Has Been Used
ProPublica’s Christopher Flavelle reports that $136 billion in stimulus money has been spent and $84 billion in stimulus tax cuts has been allocated. That means there’s $284 billion left to spend in stimulus money (as well as $128 billion in remaining tax cuts) — more than twice the federal spending outlined in the stimulus bill has yet to take place.
There has been a lot of talk of a “2nd stimulus” or a stimulus that more directly deals with job creation. Most economists seem to favor such additional government spending, especially with national unemployment at 10.2 percent. But stimulus implementation has only started. The stimulus will eventually be judged not only on economic growth and job numbers but the success of projects like high-speed rail and centralization of health care records that have yet to begin.
