President Obama spoke to the nation and Congress last night proposing a new $450 billion stimulus package to try to get America back to work. For anyone currently without a job though, the most important part of the plan is the part that DOES extend unemployment. Yes, Obama has officially proposed extending federal unemployment benefits for 2012 and now it is up to Congress to pass it.

With such a large number of people out of work in this country, UI extension is vital to give them hope. It is taking many people longer than the 20 to 26 weeks the states give to find a job and they need the federal extension to apply into 2012 to keep them out of bankruptcy. This is a worse economy than most of us have ever seen and if there ever were a time for government help, it is now.

Obama’s Jobs Act is designed to be a stimulus to the economy by pumping money into certain areas to create jobs and relieving some tax corporate tax burdens in hopes that it will encourage hiring. As long as companies refuse to hire more workers, the economy will never recover. Much of his proposed plan involves giving businesses incentives to hire which is EXACTLY what we need.

So now that Obama has come out and outlined his American Jobs Act, it is up to you the people to call your representatives in Congress and tell them to pass it. There will undoubtedly be a lot of bickering and political posturing that goes along with this bill and so you need to get involved and let your representatives know how you feel. That is why they are there: to represent YOU!

As people continue to search for how to get stimulus money, the question now being asked is whether the stimulus Recovery Act was a success or a bust?

When the stimulus grants bill was passed in February 2009, the United States had an unemployment rate of  8.1% and about 12,500,000 people were out of work. The latest data from September 2010 shows that we have an unemployment rate of 9.6% and about 14,800,000 people were without jobs! Why has unemployment gotten worse when President Obama sold the stimulus bill as the only way to keep unemployment under 8%?

Additionally it is reported by the Congressional Budget Office (which is non-partisan) that the final cost of the stimulus bill will end up being closer to $814 billion dollars instead of the original $787 billion. Other reports put the final cost even higher! So the stimulus package is bigger than what was forecast and things are still getting worse.

This is why so many Americans are wondering whether the Recovery Act or stimulus bill (whatever you want to call it) was a failure? They see their personal lives having not gotten any better and they are looking for all the new roads and bridges that were supposed to have been built with the money. Have you seen any?

It turns out that about 70% of the stimulus money has gone to the different state Medicaid programs and to public schools while only about 14% has gone toward infrastructure projects for transportation. This is what the Government Accountability Office has reported.

Many people will tell you that the Stimulus Recovery Act was a success and has saved a lot of jobs. They will tell you that things would even be worse than they are now if it hadn’t been passed. That may be true and it is impossible to know for sure what things would be like if there were no stimulus money.

But unfortunately, the unemployment rate has continued to go up and people are frustrated. Until that changes, people are going to be angry. The unemployment rate is the key as it is easy to get angry and upset when you can’t find a job.

Lots of people have directly benefited from stimulus money but this is a big country that has an awfully big population. The stimulus bill can’t help everyone and those that haven’t been helped will call it a failure even if it has done good things.

There is lots of news about the November midterm elections about how Republicans and conservatives are angry and there might be changes to the Senate and the House of Representatives. Right now, Democrats control everything: the Presidency, the Senate, and the House.

If angry voters come out and vote for Republicans, can that hurt the changes that have been made such as the Obama stimulus grants? Will there be less money going out from the government to the people who need it?

The answer is that even if Republicans win enough votes to take over both houses of Congress (unlikely) or just one section, there will probably be very few changes that you will notice. President Obama will still be the president for two more years and he will most likely veto anything they try to do.

Republicans and conservatives want to stop the government spending that they say is out of control. So, they will say no to any of President Obama’s ideas that require spending. But the 2009 stimulus bill has long been passed and nothing will change. The Obama student loans bill went through and that is not something that they would likely try to change either.

If conservatives win in November (big or small), it will just be a minor setback for Obama as he will still be in charge. He can block anything they try to do because they won’t have enough votes to override his veto. So, if you are looking for Obama grants for moms, back to school grants, Obama small business grants, or any other type of grants or financial aid from the government, it is likely that nothing will have changed after the November elections no matter who wins.

The important thing to remember is that President Obama will be in office for at least two more years and he could get elected for four more years after that. So, nothing drastic is going to change during that time. There will still be the stimulus grants money that is available and President Obama will most likely continue to try to pass government programs that are designed to help the people in need.

The U.S. government has set up a website to keep track of where all the Obama stimulus money is going. All it takes is one look at the website (Recovery.gov) and you will realize the magnitude of the giveaway. A person can literally spend hours on the site as it is a very complex and detailed setup of graphs, charts, and links. 

All the Obama free money is going somewhere and this is the place to find out who is getting what in terms of loans and grants. You need to navigate the site by the tabs at the top of the page and the one of most interest is the one titled “Where Is The Money Going”. This leads you to a map of the United States that you can use to focus in on any part of the country you want and to find out what businesses and colleges are getting and how much.

The map is quite slick really as it is peppered with different colored dots which represent either Obama stimulus loans, Obama stimulus grants, or Obama stimulus contracts. Some of them seem to be debt relief grants for businesses that have stumbled on hard times. You can then click on the dot and get more information such as how much it was for and to what business entity it went to. The map has so many dots that they often overlap and in the populated cities it is difficult to see them individually. If you have ever wondered just how many agencies, local governments, businesses, colleges and other entities are getting stimulus help, Recovery.gov is the place to go. 

There are a lot of other resources on the site as well that may or may not answer the questions you have. The map is fun at first but it does become tiresome to navigate and I tried unsuccessfully to find some sort of list that would lay out all the information in a more user friendly searchable format. The amount of information on the website can be overwhelming and it illustrates how far reaching the governments role has become in distributing our tax dollars.

This Recovery.gov website is supposed to be the window of transparency between the government and the general public with the intent of making sure there is no doubt to the legitimacy of the Obama stimulus money program. The amount of money being distributed to across the country is unpresidented and there have been a lot of doubters to the process. If you have any doubts of your own, you should make sure to take a look at the site and see if it helps you understand what is happening and diminishes any of your doubts.

Right now things are really bad with job losses, both companies and people heavily in debt, the stock market way down, and foreign investors pulling a lot of money out of America. The stimulus plan is bailing out different companies and local governments, not individual people like you and I. There will not be any stimulus rebate for us little people.

Just this weekend Joe Biden admitted the economy is much worse than they had calculated. Undoubtedly he is laying the groundwork for a second stimulus package later this year. Will stimulus package #2 ever make it past Congress, the House, and the American people? Will they finally stand up against it?

If there is a second stimulus package, there will not be an Obama stimulus check in it for you and I either. No money is going to be going to individuals right now or any time soon. So, if you are hoping for free Obama money or Obama stimulus grants to bail you out, you need to face reality because help is not coming. Don’t get scammed by people who are trying to convince you otherwise! Obama stimulus rebate checks are not real!

Now that the largest Obama stimulus package in the history of the United States has been passed, where do you go to get some money? Maybe the question should be are you going to be getting some free stimulus money? Will we all get a stimulus check or a stimulus rebate like a year ago when everyone got $600.00 sent to them by the US goverment?

Most of the money is not going to go to you and me. There are some new tax breaks and because of this your checks may get a little bit bigger in the coming months. But not a lot bigger, just $10 to $20 or so. If you are on food stamps you will get a little more in stamps and if you are on unemployment you will get about $25 more and be able to get them longer.

If you are newly unemployed you will be glad to know that health insurance through COBRA will last longer and the government will pay for more of it. Police forces will get money to hire more policemen.

The rest of the Obama stimulus money will go to schools, the enviroment, paving roads and other things like that where you will not directly benefit. Obama US government grants will be the only way to try to get more of this money if you want it. This massive give away of all this money is going to be paid for by our children and maybe even their grandchildren in the form of higher taxes.

There is a ton of free Obama money going everywhere with this bill and if you are smart and can figure it out, there are ways I’m sure to get some of it. Unfortunately, there will be no new US government grants because of this bill. There will be the usual grants available but nothing new from the 2009 stimulus. If you want to profit and get some of the stimulus money, you will probably have to get one of the new green jobs to save the environment or some other jobs that has been created as a result of this bill.