In times of crisis, the worst thing a person can do is stand idly by and watch the chaos ensue. At the same time, rushing into a situation without looking carefully at what the repercussions could be can also end in disaster. With the introduction of his economic stimulus package, President Barack Obama could very well be facing the latter.

Obama’s stimulus plan is incredibly large, and some are estimating its cost to be around $1 trillion. The most immediate impact of the package is expected to be the influx of cash into the economy from tax cuts and direct spending for those who need it.

These emergency funds will be put toward helping out citizens with social security and preventing people from losing their homes due to foreclosure. In the short term, these emergency efforts could calm a still-panicked country and help to level out
the economy.

For long-term efforts, Obama plans to introduce a new system of public works, which is to be the greatest investment in the nation’s infrastructure since the highway system was introduced in the 1950s. These public works include allocation for standard projects such as roads, as well as new initiatives. Among these are plans to update government buildings to be more energy-efficient and investments in alternative fuel research.

All of the ideas outlined in Obama’s plan are aimed at generating both short-term and long-term fixes to the problems that have been plaguing the economy along with other facets of life.

However, it is unclear whether or not these measures will be enough to prevent further deterioration of the economy. All of the measures seem to have been created with the best intentions, but it is impossible to tell if the stimulus package can generate enough of a boom to get the country out of its current crisis. Critics have complained that many of the provisions within the stimulus package are just examples of the Democratic Party’s penchant for overspending.

Comparisons have been made between Obama’s stimulus package and Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal, the plan that was enacted in the 1930s to help pull the country out of the Great Depression.

Although Roosevelt’s plan is remembered by many historians through rose-colored glasses, those who look closely at its effects can clearly see that although it helped, it did not pull the country entirely out of the depression. Entering WWII did much more for the economy than the New Deal could have hoped for.

This means that perhaps the single greatest stimulus package ever unleashed into the world was only a partially successful act.

That knowledge makes it easy to question the viability of this new stimulus package, and many have done just that. However, they seem to be overlooking some key differences in the situations that called for these packages.

The most important difference is that the present economy is in much better shape than the one that Roosevelt was trying to save. His package was only partially successful, but the country was in an absolute state of disaster. If the New Deal had been enacted during the present economic crisis, it may have been able to do much more.

Overall, it is hard to tell if the stimulus package will work. History can provide no perfect comparison, and economists continue to disagree on the possible effects of stimulus plans. However, it is certainly hard to bet against it.

While critics claim that there may be some flaws in the stimulus package, the future is still open for President Obama to correct any mistakes in upcoming bills. More importantly, it is nice to see that at least he is not just standing idly by and watching.