Effects of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

Dylan Stein

Effects of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

            The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was put into place under President Barrack Obama while the great recession of our country in the mid to late 2000’s was going on. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was essentially a stimulus for a failing economy and a way to create jobs in the private sector. Unemployment rates were through the roof and this act essentially provided jobs for the unemployed and would try to stop the lay offs that were happening to people across the United States every day and give them new job opportunities. By the year 2019 this act will have cost the United States $831 billion dollars since it was invested in multiple facets of the economy. These sectors that the was act applied to are health, education, energy, and infrastructure. This act also expanded unemployment benefits getting people various benefits, one of which being welfare, put into place federal tax incentives, and created the Presidents Economic Recovery Advisory Board, which is a panel of non-governmental experts.

            The short term impacts of the ARRA were fairly positive since they were put into the U.S. economy. American taxpayers saw a $151 billion dollar return on the money that was spent to create this act in the first quarter. There were 1 million new jobs by the second quarter, job loss was on a decline, and there was a slight rise in Gross Domestic Product. The failing global economy was positively impacted by the ARRA as well because of the short term impact that it had on the United States. The economic stimulus produced a positive impact on every major international industry due to this short term impact on the United States as well. States that faced huge budget deficits were also helped out as well due to the ARRA including state fiscal relief in its agreement. Fiscal relief at the state level was shown by analysis of the ARRA being able to raise employment states that were devastated by the recession, however, by 2011 these short term positive impacts seemed to have been diminished. There was a huge increase in the United States’ debt, there was a large infrastructure deficit, and there was an increase of pressure on public spending. The money that the United States has today is being help privately as oppose to being used by the government and invested into the economy which is what made this country money when the act was first introduced, which is a long term affect of this act causing stagnation in the economy. The long term impacts overall have created decreased private spending and increased government spending. The short term impacts were able to pull in money for the country, get benefits for the unemployed and rise the GDP, the long term affects overall overran the short terms affects and caused more government spending which in turn makes the ARRA not look like such a good idea for the future.

Cites: "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: Information Center." The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: Information Center. Web. 26 Apr. 2016.