Mixed feelings about the stimulus package

I talked to a couple of people at Wilshire WorkSource who had just completed the several-week training course for the MTA. They had all struggled with unemployment for at least a few months. I was especially interested in Charles White’s story. He had come out of the military and been working for Walmart part-time, but he left the job to move and care for a sick relative.

White talked about feeling like all doors were closed to him until he found the center and was connected with this job as an operator. I really wanted to feature him more in the piece, but in trying to take a bigger survey of people’s feelings about the stimulus, there wasn’t time. I spoke to several people on the street (Wilshire), and while they were mostly skeptical about the stimulus package’s effect, they weren’t as overtly negative as national polls have shown.

While Gloria Moore and others I spoke with at the unemployment center felt the stimulus needed more time to improve the economy, there were very enthusiastic about it, and echoed economists who say it may have prevented an economic depression. However, it’s hard to feel optimistic in California, which has the fifth-highest unemployment rate in the country.