“We need the stimulus to jumpstart the economy”

is what we’ve been hearing so many times.

When asked what it will do, the response is “the stimulus will be creating jobs” and that is said rather smugly.  Let me ask you – does that address the core problem?  Or is it implied that throwing money in this way will resolve the situation in the long term?

Let’s start with the basics:  do we have the same definition of ’stimulus’, ‘jumpstart’ and ‘creating jobs’?  You may think we do, yet I challenge you to ask a colleague what these words mean to them.

For instance, this will “jumpstart the economy” … what timeframe is implied?  Within a month?  Within six months?  Within a year? “Creating jobs” … are these permanent jobs?  Or are they contract jobs?

And is ‘jumpstarting the economy with this stimulus’ really attacking the core problem, or is it simply a band aid on a deeper cut?

It’s not what they said, it’s what you think you heard.