Political Communication During the Stimulus Bill Debate

Posted: August 5th, 2013

Background

The response by the American government in the form of The Stimulus Bill of 2009 was because of the Great Recession. The causes of the Great Recession were, however, under debate by many scholars. According to the Federal Reserve Board, The Treasury and the SEC opposed any application of regulations to derivatives. The failure of the mortgage-backed securities, one kind of a derivative marked the beginning of the economic recession of 2008. Mr. Alan Greenspan of the Federal Reserve Board was squarely blamed for the lowering of the Federal fund rates that allowed easy credit to be introduced into the financial system causing an unstable economic surge. However, these accusations do not explain the reason for the crisis in its totality.

Public Opinion and its contribution towards the Stimulus Bill

The American population was generally at a loss as to where to place their vote when it cam e to selecting whether to support the Economic Stimulus Bill or reject it. A large section of Americans wanted Congress to pass any economic stimulus bill but an even greater number were not optimistic that this action would result in a positive economic growth for them. Most American families therefore viewed the effort by the government a justified but did not have much faith in the distributive role of the sate in ensuring that these economic changes would influence their lives. This divided population made it very difficult for either Republicans or democrats to make big decisions concerning the bill.

However, in terms of the economic situation in America at the time, it was unanimously agreed between and among all citizens from different states and occupations that the recession was directly affecting them and that urgent intervention had to be planned. There was general