The Stimulus Package: What Impact on B-to-B?
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 could prove a lifeline for some businesses in this grim economy. The Act includes $787 billion in spending and tax cuts over the next two years.
Businesses are wondering how they can capture their share of this windfall. In a recent B2B Magazine article executives noted that they are taking a targeted approach: conducting highly-focused email campaigns, building specific micro-sites by sector, and researching government-driven opportunities.
The Act focuses, in large measure, on industries such as construction, housing, health care, energy and telecommunications. With a mix of infrastructural investments and tax credits, the spending is both direct (e.g. funding “shovel ready” highway projects) and indirect (offering consumers and businesses tax incentives to install energy efficient equipment, for example).
In what has been described as the first “Government 2.0” effort, the Obama administration is communicating details about the spending programs at the Recovery.gov website.
According to the site: “The Act will create or save three to four million jobs, 90 percent of them in the private sector.” Job creation estimates by state vary: from nearly 400,000 in California to as few as 8,000 in less populous states such as Alaska and North Dakota.
A state-by-state guide to spending is available at the Wall Street Journal website. The map provides for a quick mouse-over feature, detailing per capita spending in a variety of areas—from education, to transportation to health care.
This in-depth, but confusing, graphic from the Washington Post provides a sector-by-sector breakout.
The scope of the proposed spending is broad; for example:
- $100-150 billion for public infrastructure projects (e.g. schools, roads, railways)
- $50 billion for the development of renewable energy sources & tax credits up to 30% for installation of energy-efficient systems
- $2.8 billion for broadband development
- $650 million for the Department of Education to use for computer and software purchases
While much of the funding will not be dispersed until 2010, forward-looking businesses are preparing to take advantage of these opportunities now.
