Debt is Going to be What Kills America

Michael Steinman, a teacher at Village Academy High School in Pomona, California, asked his students how the economy was affecting them. Here's the video they produced.

Obama talked about the video in his education speech. Watch that here. 
The White House blog posts examples of how the stimulus money is being spent:

Arizona [East Valley Tribune, 3/10/09]:

About $7 million in federal stimulus money will enable Maricopa Workforce Connections to help hundreds more displaced workers upgrade their skills for future employment. The U.S. Department of Labor this week announced state allotment levels for employment and training programs funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The work force investment system will use the $3.5 billion to help Americans get back to work through the national network of one-stop career centers. "It can be used to help folks who have been laid off through education and training programs," said Peggy Abrahamson, Department of Labor spokeswoman. "Primarily the states do this through the one-stop career centers, and there's well over 3,000 around the country."

Kansas [Topeka Capital Journal, 3/12/09]:

Money from the federal stimulus program may reduce the three-month wait time for an appointment at the Shawnee County Health Agency Clinic. Shawnee County commissioners authorized Anne Freeze, health agency director, to speed the process of preparing the application and sending it to Washington.

Maryland [Gazette.net, 3/11/09]:

Stimulus road workers happy to be back on job… When American Infrastructure won the contract to repave a section of New Hampshire Avenue, Bryan White, 47, of Aberdeen, was one of the employees who got the call to return to work. "It's wonderful," White said of the project, cited as the first in the nation under the $26.6 billion released by President Barack Obama from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to state and local governments to repair and build roadways and bridges. "It's going to create more jobs. I know I'm happy."

Obama in Columbus Ohio March 6 to Welcome Spared Police Officers

The stimulus money spared 26 officers' jobs in Columbus. Obama will welcome them to the force tomorrow.

Dispatch: Columbus police recruits who received layoff notices less than six weeks ago instead will be welcomed to the force on Friday by President Barack Obama and the nation's top law-enforcement official.
The White House officially scheduled the presidential visit yesterday and announced that Attorney General Eric Holder will accompany Obama to Columbus for the swearing in of 26 officers whose jobs were spared by the first federal stimulus money promised to central Ohio.

"To go from that to this, it's remarkable," Safety Director Mitchell J. Brown said.

The graduation will take place at the Aladdin Shrine Center on Stelzer Road, a quick ride from Port Columbus, where Obama's plane will touch down about 10:30 a.m.

The president will spend only a few hours in the city, but Mayor Michael B. Coleman said he'll be an honored guest. The Police Division will face extra costs for security, but officials said that even a tight city budget sets aside money for officers' overtime during such events.

Obama's intent, obviously, is to highlight the effects of the stimulus.

Bloomberg: “Fourteen days after I signed our recovery act into law, we are seeing shovels hit the ground,” Obama said today while visiting the Transportation Department in Washington. Of the 3.5 million jobs saved or created, about 400,000 will be rebuilding crumbling roads, bridges and schools, he said, with $28 billion devoted to highway construction.

Obama’s administration is working to direct funds from the $787 billion economic recovery package signed into law last month. The measure seeks to create jobs by spending almost $200 billion to rebuild the nation’s crumbling infrastructure.

Obama used the Transportation Department as a platform to illustrate the government is spending the stimulus money quickly as the economy continues to erode. He will highlight the stimulus bill again March 6 in a speech in Columbus, Ohio.

“Transportation projects that were once on hold are starting up again,” he said. More than 100 projects were funded today, with more than 200 construction projects to get under way “in the next few weeks.”

Highway projects will save or create about 150,000 jobs by the end of 2010, he said, more than the number of jobs lost over the last three years at Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC combined.