Frank Says Congress Will Weigh Economic Stimulus Plan

Source: Bloomberg


Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Congress will consider after the Nov. 4 election an economic stimulus package targeted at the middle class, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank said.

``We are going to do a stimulus,'' Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, said on the ABC News ``This Week'' program today. ``I think a stimulus package is to give the middle class and the average citizen the same kind of relief that we tried to give to the financial sector.''

The U.S. economy will expand 1.6 percent this year and slow to a near standstill next year of 0.1 percent growth, the International Monetary Fund said last week. The slowdown is raising pressure on lawmakers and the Bush administration to do more to ease a financial crisis that has led to a 39 percent decline in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index this year.

``We definitely need a stimulus package,'' Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat who heads Congress's Joint Economic Committee, said on CNN. ``Main Street is in real trouble and a stimulus package aimed at Main Street makes real sense.''




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In the first place, most don't have the 40 credits of college math needed to begin to understand modern finance.

Most of these politicians took some liberal arts major and then went to law school.

Totally useless.

Giving them to everyone seems wasteful. We are lucky (right now, at least) and don't really need it, but I hate to say it is fiscally irresponsible to add to our national debt when there are those out there that really do need help. Seems like the smarter thing would be to increase unemployment benefits or offer greater tax credits for tuition or to offset high energy costs for those below a certain income level.