New Delhi: US President Barack Obama has signed the much awaited stimulus bill into law.
The $787 billion package aims to reverse the US economic free fall. It pumps money into infrastructure projects, health care, renewable energy development and conservation. There's a $400 tax break for most individual workers and $800 for couples.
It dishes out tens of billions of dollars to states. Describing the measure as the "first step" to recovery, Obama said that part of the plan would put America back on track.
“I don’t want to say that this bill marks the end of all economic problems, but it is surely the beginning of the end. This bill promises tax reduction,” says President Obama.
However, analysts are sceptical.
“I think we're going to continue to see large scale declines in employment, probably of the order of job losses of 500,000 a month for a few more months,” says Chief US Economist, Nomura Securities, David Resler.
“What's really important aside from the individual aspects of the bill was also to give people a sense that we're going to do something. If by the end of 2010 we have a million and a half more jobs than we have today, I would consider that a success,” Labor Economist, The Conference Board, Ken Goldstein.
But the package might prove to be a bane for Indians in America. It restricts American companies receiving bailout funds from hiring foreign skilled workers on H-1B visas.
Indians form a majority of the H1-B visa holders.
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