Obama's new stimulus plan same as the old

Obama's new stimulus plan same as the old
President Obama's new 'accelerated' recovery plan is neither new nor accelerated

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is promising some exciting coming attractions for his stimulus plan. But it turns out they're just summer reruns.
Obama promised Monday to ramp up spending from the $787 billion stimulus fund and create or save 600,000 jobs by the end of the summer. It was an effort to shift the focus away from persistently rising unemployment and beat back criticism that the money isn't flowing quickly enough.

Those promises aren't new.

Stimulus spending had always been expected to rise sharply this summer, and the White House has been predicting that 600,000 job total for about a month.
Obama faces souring public opinion over his handling of the economy, which has shed 1.6 million jobs since the stimulus was signed in February. That total has far overshadowed White House announcements estimating the effort has saved 150,000 jobs, a figure that is so murky it can never be verified.
Monday's announcement sought to reposition Obama in the driver's seat of America's recovery. It portrayed the president as revving up the engine of the stimulus, but it was something federal agencies were already planning to do anyway.
Obama spoke about "modest progress" in the economy, citing fewer jobs lost last month than expected. He said he hopes to build on that in the months ahead with stimulus programs.
"We've done more than ever, faster than ever, more responsibly than ever, to get the gears of the economy moving again," he said. Read on...
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Obamas-new-stimulus-plan-same-apf-15473100.html?sec=topStories&pos=4&asset=&ccode=

Obama expedites stimulus
(02:15) Report Reuters Video

Jun. 8 - President Obama is expediting the economic stimulus package that Congress passed in February in order to create 600,000 jobs over the next 100 days.

SOUNDBITES:
# U.S. President Barack Obama
# Dan Mitchell, senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute,Jon Decker reports.