Obama Looks to Stimulus To Tackle High unemployment

Dubbed the Roadmap to Recovery, Obama plans to focus on summer jobs for teens, law enforcement, infrastructure, and health care as he tries to deflect Republican critics that suggest he is not concentrating on the economy.

Obama's stimulus plan passed early in the year, earmarking nearly $800 billion to fix the struggling economy. But the unemployment rate has surged since January, rising to a 26-year high of 9.4%, while the economy has shed nearly 3 million jobs during the same period.

Critics charge that the stimulus package is back loaded and spends too little in fiscal 2009, while others complain the latest announcement by the president is nothing more than theatrics since the funds were already in the pipeline.

Republican Representative John Boehner of Ohio was quick to point out that the Obama administration has not done enough to help the average American. But Obama countered, "I would suggest to them that they talk to the companies who, because of this plan, scrapped the idea of laying off employees and in fact decided to hire employees."

Charles Sherry
Tomorrow's Economy Today