With the constant news updates concerning budget deficits, stimulus plans, and billions and trillions of dollars, I am almost desensitized to what all this means. As a high school student with aspirations to go to college and live on my own, will I be crushed by the economy? Will I be able to get a job in the future? Is stimulating the economy a good idea?

At this point, most people want to hold onto their money. If people live in fear of spending money, the economy will screech to a halt. Unemployment has already reached a high point, and with people losing their jobs, the last thing they want to do is spend money. One hopeful aspect of President Obama's plan is that it would create 4 million new jobs. FDR employed similar tactics after the Great Depression by creating jobs through public works. Stimulus-funded construction projects would provide work for laborers across the state. The money from the stimulus plan could go to traffic and highway improvements, or the rail-transit system.

Obama's stimulus plan also will pump money into banks so mortgage rates decrease; people will start spending again and the wheels of the economy will spin once more.

Clearly, we cannot leave the economy the way it is. Through strategic "stimulation," our economy may once again return to a healthy state.

Reach Chloe Yester at (Unknown address).