Six months ago I asked: Will the Trillion Dollar Stimulus Bill Help You or Your Business? Well, has it?
I want to hear from America’s management workforce - BNET readers. Tell us all about any and all jobs you know that have been created by the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Has it helped your company, small business, family - or anyone you know - weather these hard times?
I haven’t heard of a penny showing up in the tech sector or anywhere else in Silicon Valley, except for Tesla Motors - the electric car startup that got a big chunk of automotive bailout money.
I have a small consulting business that’s had a rough year or two. Haven’t seen my stimulus money yet, but I’m still optimistic.
Nice work if you can get it
On the other hand, if you want to fly in a private jet to the Galapagos Islands, dive and snorkel at the Great Barrier Reef, or hang with penguins at the South Pole, you can do all that and more. And American taxpayers will foot the bill, along with a nice salary and benefits, too.
Join Congress. What, didn’t get your law degree? Don’t have millions to campaign for office. Oh, sorry.
How about making millions of dollars in annual bonuses, even when your company is losing billions of dollars … again, courtesy of American taxpayers?
According to USA Today, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup have slated literally billions of dollars in bonuses - big increases over last year - to thousands of employees.
What, Wall Street’s too far a commute for you? Gee, that’s too bad.
Here’s where all the jobs are
I did find an official government website if you want to search for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Jobs. I did notice they have a nice logo there. A graphics designer must have gotten big bucks for that.
According to CNN, here’s a breakdown of the biggest recipients of stimulus funds, by government department:
- Department of Education ($141 billion)
- Department of Health and Human Services ($59 billion)
- Department of Agriculture ($28 billion)
- Department of Transportation ($27 billion)
- Department of Housing and Urban Development ($13.6 billion)
- Department of Commerce ($7.9 billion)
Near as I can tell, if you’re not a banker, a politician, in the automotive industry, in one of these government departments, or don’t have a clunker to sell, you’re pretty much out of luck. But I could be wrong and this time, I truly hope I am. So tell us - has the nearly trillion dollar stimulus bill helped your company, small business, family - or even anyone you know - weather these hard times?
