Washington Shows Class: Takes Steps to Boost Economy
SmartProInvesting.com, January 24, 2008
If you are looking to see how seriously a government should take economic management and the stimulation of growth of its national economy, Washington is probably the best place to beam your attention at this point. The US government has initiated a bold move to reign in on fears about a possible economic recession. President Bush Thursday announced a package of proposed incentives to provide a boost to the US economy. This comes just a day after the Federal Reserve moved in an emergency intervention to cut interest rates by a whopping 0.75% to shore up the capital market that was clearly headed for trouble.
Recent fears about a slowing US economy had kept the markets relatively nervous. Apparently unwilling to let it ride, the government is taking targeted steps to stem the slide. The growth package just announced was described by the president as a "swift decisive action the economy urgently needs". Attributing the challenges of the US economy to the high energy costs and the housing sector crises, he saw the need for a government intervention as a compelling issue. The package is designed to stimulate higher consumer spending and increased business investment. Though much support was said to have been received from the Congress on the program, it is yet to be passed into law. The Executive is counting on an expedited handling of the proposal by the Congress.
Under the package characterised as effective, robust and temporary, US taxpayers will receive checks from government, meant to put some spending money in their pockets. The total bill could be as high as $150 billion. US Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, described the package as "simple, broad-based and effective" and focusing on the consumer. The government, he said, wanted a speedy, fast-tracked package that would make a difference, quickly.
The moves by the US government clearly show how important economic growth should be to a government. Juxtapose that with an economy like Nigeria, where basic economic factors like energy supply are not available to support economic activity and there is no sense of urgency to tackling the problem and you will see that there is a huge challenge for the latter.
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