"martini+1, good advice -- what's your advice to someone who's been pounding the pavement for months and still have come up with nothing? Have you ever been in this situation?"
during th elate 1980s i was out of work for almost three years. you do not know what it is like to call every firm in down, send them all resumes, call them again and again. eventually i asked for part-time work and landed several gigs. worked on a contract basis for six months. heard from a friend a design-build contractor friend was looking for a local architect licensed in wisconsin. got a temporary ticket in wisconsin and walked through this guys door less than a week later. had almost one year of work. did it for peanuts but, it paid the rent and was able to get anew car.
read my other posts for my sincere and honest experiences.
if you have been out of work for some time, be sure you have a great resume and portfolio. if you are sending anything do not use email. send everything by mail and direct it to each partner by name. a cd of your work is great. decent voice over would be killer. follow up with a telephone call to each. even if they have nothing ask if they can offer suggestions how you can craft a better resume, assemble a better portfolio, etc. and lastly, if they are aware of any firms looking for full or part-time help. if you have not done so already, get a suit and get a haircut.
go to aia,csi, and other acronym meetings. meet people. explain who you are. one architect once noted he could tell everyone he was jesus christ until he was asked to walk on water. created a ver successful one man practice! am not asking you to lie. be extrovert and sell yourself. if you ever want to have your own practice you will need to master this practice. be confident in yourself.
you've got to get your foot in the door. be humble. be professional. write thank you letters and explain what you got from your meeting. the very worse that can happen to you is you will get a call when they eventually need someone.
two architectural positions have come to my attention recently. one requires someone with heavy bim experience who can work by themselves in a clients office and be the representative for this firm. second requires someone with solid california oshpod medical and laboratory experience who can review the work of other architects. hiring for experienced and specialized personnel exists. this is not hype.
this very well could get worse before it gets better. if you live near a big city focus on any large architecture or engineering firm that does infrastructure or public sector work. even if you hate it, do prisons. send letters and resumes to all of the enr 500 of everything. forget about the online stuff.
Interesting to relate this thread to the one Archie started two years ago on the motivation of younger staff. Jobs were plentiful then, so even the weakest of candidates had obtained good jobs with good pay. Now its a tight market so only a fraction of the candidates will find architectural positions, and their sustained motivation will be a factor in their employability. Its inevitable that a lot of people will need to make other career choices.
spaceman, can you give a link to the thread you're talking about. Old threads are always interesting to read. A lot has changed in this profession over the past 6 months.
Your experiences of working for others mirrors mine. I know there are some jerks out there who do not value their employees as much as they should, but all of my previous employers treated their employees with the utmost respect. It was something that I definitely took note of and carry with me now that I have my own firm. Layoff suck all around.
this was the link to the what motivates young architects. If I was all young and hip I could probably figure out how to make it a fancy link like blue goose. ;-)
Thanks archie, and being young and hip in this market usually means you're laid off and looking for work.
Recently heard of a well established firm closing all of their branch offices. Have some friends working in one of those offices so I'll not mention the firm. They were blown away by the news since they are currently busy. Headquarters is taking all the work into one office.
A local firm did that too, and closed its branch in the city to keep the one in the outskirts going. And another firm laid off 50 from its city branch (work in Dubai dried up.) but only a few in its office about 30 miles out of the city. I think they are going for lower overhead, cheaper rent, etc. I know of a couple of firms (not architects) that now are virtual offices. They have closed their physical offices to save on overhead versus laying off staff. Several offices here are going to 4 day work weeks and reducing pay.
We started a virtual practice about a year ago. It really wasn't related to the recession, but rather to reduce the inefficiencies and lower the costs of how design services were being performed in big offices. Its taken a while, but now we are able to offer a savings of over 40% and average 2 new projects a month. We are licensed and insured, but try to stay on the front end of projects usually producing mostly concept designs and programming. We take 50% of our fee upfront through wire transfers and 50% once the client screen checks the final documents on our secure .ftp site. We charge by the acre or square foot.
If you try this - its important that you have a strong core team of people that trust each other > because you are not together everyday. If you get it right, you can revolutionize the profession.
Sorry to hear that tumbleweed. How does one get laid off on a Sunday might I ask? Did they have you in working OT just to show you the door? That's cold.
Is it worth getting a plan B? To become and LPN, a type of nurse commonly in demand for nursing homes and hospice care centers, it takes 4 semesters at a community college about 1-1.2 years and 4-8k depending on residency. The aging population makes this type of work high in demand with relocation expenses, tuition reimbursements and guaranteed placement at an annual salary of 35-50K depending on your location.
Is it worth getting an alternate stable job?
Will architecture as a viable career make a comeback before then?
If you had to address a graduating class this may at an M arch or B arch program what would you say?
@PJN26 - look for opportunities and take risks. I came out of arch school during the early 90's recession. I was offered a job during my final presentation but I wanted to take the summer to enjoy life a bit. Come the fall the job offer was off the table and architecture positions were impossible to find.
I ended up doing 3 freelance retail interior fit-outs (a volunteer position on a building and grounds committee led to one which let to the next which led to the next) then started my own design studio doing mostly graphic and multi-media design. Things got rolling quickly and I was making enough to buy a new car and later put a good chunk down on a house.
All of that took risk and very often I felt like I was in waaaay over my head. Most nights were spent learning and working. It was hard and it was scary.
I eventually went into architecture and spent quite a few years doing it. Now I've felt the affects of the economy and grabbed an opportunity in construction management. Some days now I feel like I'm in over my head. Look for opportunities, take chances and be proactive.
PJN26, *IF* you are seriously considering a new career, nursing seems to be a good one. I've said here before, my professor in college in the 80s told us all to marry nurses because they could always find a job. And these days that's even more true. I have a few nurse friends and they arrange their schedules whenever they want and make $40/hour, one friend travels to Europe several times a year because he can cram a bunch of shifts into one month and then take two weeks off.
tumbles, I'm really sorry to hear it. Hang in there.
I'd like to know from the unfortunate folks that were laid off if their former employers made the immediate decision to lay off or if there was a gradual approach before the layoffs began - i.e. salary/hour reduction, suspension of 401K match, etc.
If I were to address a BArch or MArch class of 2009 my temptation would be to talk about the diversity of their degree...the options you have outside of traditional architecture. Maybe mention the positive aspects of starting in hard time. Not being tied to a location thanks to a mortgage. Not being trained in any one specality. The flexibility factor. I sure wouldn't be saying how they're all going to run out and design the built environment. God knows that ain't happening soon.
Not that this means a turn around is near...but...
Although I was shipped off to one of our Busy offices in the NE, and things have been looking rather dicey in my office...things seem to have bottomed, dare I say stabilized.
There have been quite a few people doing "busy work" in the office lately...cleaning, filing, "marketing"...non-billable. Everyone has been waiting on the axe to fall any day, but the bosses have been staying possitive.
Well in the past week, 2 projects (smallish) have come back alive from their indefinite holds, and one large Hospitality project will officially kick-off next week (caribbean)
Add to that several large federal and state projects that were hinged on the "Stimulus package" that we have been told, get ready...we will be going "full steam ahead" as soon as funds are released.
Let's hope for the best!
meanwhile I'm about to give up on the late great state of California. time for it to just break off and fall into the ocean.
they are about to stop the funding for the 260 or so projects that got 'emergency' clearance to keep going when the bond-funded projects were all halted in December. not to mention all the other things that are about to happen if we can't ever get a damn budget going.
seriously, it is to weep. it only affects a few of our projects in my office (and we are strangely busy at the moment, though the future is always unclear) but as a California citizen the whole situation just makes me want to hurl. is there no hope for meaningful constitutional reform, ever?
sorry to hear about what happened, tumbleweed. and theparsley, it doesn't sound to great in CA either. "the future is always unclear"... seems to be the sentiment that keeps everyone's stomach churning right now.
i wish there was some better news out there... not only for our profession but for state governments, etc as a whole. J3 seems to have seen a bit of a brighter light. i finally came to the realization the other night that if i am laid off i will leave DC for good. it's entirely too expensive here- and for what... there's no beach here, it's cold, people are rude, and even the crappiest of houses is entirely overpriced even after the housing bubble burst. i find that even in the worst of situations a little sun and sand brings me back around.
my particular studio has two large projects we are clinging to for dear life. but should anything abrupt happen in either of these projects- and/or we reach the deadlines and we have nothing further to work on, then we will most definitely be laid off.
beach here i come
+i I've noticed a general sense of acceptance of the situation amongst co-workers and friends in architecture. Couple good friends were let go a few weeks back. Before it even happened they had their desks largely cleaned out and were both joking about when it would finally happen. Mind you these friends are not bad workers, but you can only go so long with no work.
Contrast your attitude to that of GM and Chrysler. Hardly a soul is willing to buy any of their vehicles, even less without hefty incentives which make their product money losing. Instead of accepting their defeat and forging a massive downsizing they get gov't bailouts to keep their ranks bloated and inefficient.
Meanwhile I contemplate what I might do if laid off. Change in career path? Temporary work in another field? I to accept the reality that there's just way too many architects for far too little work right now, but wonder if we'd be better off not accepting our situation. Pull a GM/Chrysler move and demand an architect bailout. Pay us to design buildings nobody wants, etc. I don't have any illusions that the stimulus will employ tens of thousands of us...so when are we getting our cake?
Please note my sarcasm as if I were in charge the auto companies wouldn't be getting a dime, nor any other failed businesses, aka banks, etc.
aquapura- i guess the profession hasn't been quite as "vocal" about a bailout- certainly not in the same way as the car manufacturers- but the AIA has been lobbying for school reconstruction, infrastructure, and other construction projects to be put into that stimulus package for quite sometime now. in fact, just got another ridiculous email yesterday about it. so in a way, that must be our "bailout". in that sense, architects aren't really any better. we just don't get multi-million dollar bonuses. although i wouldn't doubt that the CEO's of SOM, HOK, etc have their own private planes
Let's be clear: calls for massive bail-out money have come from individual corporations and firms. Helping out this or that "industry" is only rhetoric when uttered by CEOs on their knees before Congress.
exactly citizen- i didn't claim any political affiliation. all i said was that eventually this will all have to be paid for- that isn't left or right, it's just balancing the checkbook. don't think the Fed will keep rates this low forever.
the AIA did lobby on behalf of us to get some of this stimulus:
"When policymakers began laying the groundwork for this economic stimulus package last November, members said the AIA should do all it could on their behalf to improve the plan. Our goal from the start was to ensure that if taxpayer dollars were spent to build new infrastructure, the projects had to be built better: greener, more high performing buildings, a 21st century transportation system, better designed schools and hospitals, and—perhaps most importantly—financial relief for the thousands of design firms struggling through this economic crisis."
just because we're printing money to make new jobs doesn't mean we aren't going to have to pay for it in the long run.
Who out there other than Japan and China can afford to buy US treasury bonds?
The stimulus means nothing if we can’t borrow the money. And many other countries already passed their economic stimulus plans so we will be competing for limited dollars in the global market.
The problem with trying to tag a president with national debt is that the president doesn't write the bills...that's congress. Not that I want to defend any political party. It's just completely false to say that one party is more fiscally responsible than the other. Both spend, just different priorities for that spending. The current congress appears to be hell bent on breaking all records in federal spending and unfortunately our presidents, both repub and dem, have been all to willing to sign that spending into law.
aqua: the president is the Chief Executive, and consequently has tremendous influence over what happens in DC. it's not an accident that we refer to the 90s as the Clinton era instead of the 33rd (or whatever) Congress era. the President has the veto at his disposal -- most haven't the balls to use it effectively.
our government is based heavily on the idea of "checks and balances" .. the President has enormous power over what does, or does not, happen in Washington .. in the end, the buck stops at the Chief Executive's desk. I need look no farther than the Bush years, in which the President, supported by his party, embarked on endless tax cuts while embroiling the country in that stupid war in Iraq. Spending up / collections down.
I am NOT persuaded that the increase in national debt over the past 8 years belongs significantly other than to Herbert Hoover Bush.
Layoffs....layoffs......
p&w has made layoffs recently, or so i read somewhere (please don't quote me on that - could be confusing them with another firm).
"martini+1, good advice -- what's your advice to someone who's been pounding the pavement for months and still have come up with nothing? Have you ever been in this situation?"
during th elate 1980s i was out of work for almost three years. you do not know what it is like to call every firm in down, send them all resumes, call them again and again. eventually i asked for part-time work and landed several gigs. worked on a contract basis for six months. heard from a friend a design-build contractor friend was looking for a local architect licensed in wisconsin. got a temporary ticket in wisconsin and walked through this guys door less than a week later. had almost one year of work. did it for peanuts but, it paid the rent and was able to get anew car.
read my other posts for my sincere and honest experiences.
if you have been out of work for some time, be sure you have a great resume and portfolio. if you are sending anything do not use email. send everything by mail and direct it to each partner by name. a cd of your work is great. decent voice over would be killer. follow up with a telephone call to each. even if they have nothing ask if they can offer suggestions how you can craft a better resume, assemble a better portfolio, etc. and lastly, if they are aware of any firms looking for full or part-time help. if you have not done so already, get a suit and get a haircut.
go to aia,csi, and other acronym meetings. meet people. explain who you are. one architect once noted he could tell everyone he was jesus christ until he was asked to walk on water. created a ver successful one man practice! am not asking you to lie. be extrovert and sell yourself. if you ever want to have your own practice you will need to master this practice. be confident in yourself.
you've got to get your foot in the door. be humble. be professional. write thank you letters and explain what you got from your meeting. the very worse that can happen to you is you will get a call when they eventually need someone.
two architectural positions have come to my attention recently. one requires someone with heavy bim experience who can work by themselves in a clients office and be the representative for this firm. second requires someone with solid california oshpod medical and laboratory experience who can review the work of other architects. hiring for experienced and specialized personnel exists. this is not hype.
this very well could get worse before it gets better. if you live near a big city focus on any large architecture or engineering firm that does infrastructure or public sector work. even if you hate it, do prisons. send letters and resumes to all of the enr 500 of everything. forget about the online stuff.
Interesting to relate this thread to the one Archie started two years ago on the motivation of younger staff. Jobs were plentiful then, so even the weakest of candidates had obtained good jobs with good pay. Now its a tight market so only a fraction of the candidates will find architectural positions, and their sustained motivation will be a factor in their employability. Its inevitable that a lot of people will need to make other career choices.
spaceman, can you give a link to the thread you're talking about. Old threads are always interesting to read. A lot has changed in this profession over the past 6 months.
Layoffs at HOK DC.
Round Two.
Nice post up thread BlueGoose.
Your experiences of working for others mirrors mine. I know there are some jerks out there who do not value their employees as much as they should, but all of my previous employers treated their employees with the utmost respect. It was something that I definitely took note of and carry with me now that I have my own firm. Layoff suck all around.
Not sure if any of these are the specific thread spaceman references above, but I'm thinking they're along the same general lines:
Should I be upset?
Architecture "interns", lets unionize !
Should I Stay, Or Should I Go?
this was the link to the what motivates young architects. If I was all young and hip I could probably figure out how to make it a fancy link like blue goose. ;-)
Thanks archie, and being young and hip in this market usually means you're laid off and looking for work.
Recently heard of a well established firm closing all of their branch offices. Have some friends working in one of those offices so I'll not mention the firm. They were blown away by the news since they are currently busy. Headquarters is taking all the work into one office.
A local firm did that too, and closed its branch in the city to keep the one in the outskirts going. And another firm laid off 50 from its city branch (work in Dubai dried up.) but only a few in its office about 30 miles out of the city. I think they are going for lower overhead, cheaper rent, etc. I know of a couple of firms (not architects) that now are virtual offices. They have closed their physical offices to save on overhead versus laying off staff. Several offices here are going to 4 day work weeks and reducing pay.
SOM Chicago is down to 150 from 440 over the summer.
They had another brutal round this week.
We started a virtual practice about a year ago. It really wasn't related to the recession, but rather to reduce the inefficiencies and lower the costs of how design services were being performed in big offices. Its taken a while, but now we are able to offer a savings of over 40% and average 2 new projects a month. We are licensed and insured, but try to stay on the front end of projects usually producing mostly concept designs and programming. We take 50% of our fee upfront through wire transfers and 50% once the client screen checks the final documents on our secure .ftp site. We charge by the acre or square foot.
If you try this - its important that you have a strong core team of people that trust each other > because you are not together everyday. If you get it right, you can revolutionize the profession.
http://www.onlinelandplanning.com
http://www.onlineurbanplanning.com
sorry to hear that bro'
at the same time...welcome to the club!
Sorry to hear that tumbleweed. How does one get laid off on a Sunday might I ask? Did they have you in working OT just to show you the door? That's cold.
wow
it is lonely in the still working world i can tell you that much
WOW. Laid off on Sunday....
Very classy. Can someone explain that one to us? In any case sorry to hear about that tumbleweed. But keep your head up.
Is it worth getting a plan B? To become and LPN, a type of nurse commonly in demand for nursing homes and hospice care centers, it takes 4 semesters at a community college about 1-1.2 years and 4-8k depending on residency. The aging population makes this type of work high in demand with relocation expenses, tuition reimbursements and guaranteed placement at an annual salary of 35-50K depending on your location.
Is it worth getting an alternate stable job?
Will architecture as a viable career make a comeback before then?
If you had to address a graduating class this may at an M arch or B arch program what would you say?
@PJN26 - look for opportunities and take risks. I came out of arch school during the early 90's recession. I was offered a job during my final presentation but I wanted to take the summer to enjoy life a bit. Come the fall the job offer was off the table and architecture positions were impossible to find.
I ended up doing 3 freelance retail interior fit-outs (a volunteer position on a building and grounds committee led to one which let to the next which led to the next) then started my own design studio doing mostly graphic and multi-media design. Things got rolling quickly and I was making enough to buy a new car and later put a good chunk down on a house.
All of that took risk and very often I felt like I was in waaaay over my head. Most nights were spent learning and working. It was hard and it was scary.
I eventually went into architecture and spent quite a few years doing it. Now I've felt the affects of the economy and grabbed an opportunity in construction management. Some days now I feel like I'm in over my head. Look for opportunities, take chances and be proactive.
tumbles ain't no bro. she's fine.
PJN26, *IF* you are seriously considering a new career, nursing seems to be a good one. I've said here before, my professor in college in the 80s told us all to marry nurses because they could always find a job. And these days that's even more true. I have a few nurse friends and they arrange their schedules whenever they want and make $40/hour, one friend travels to Europe several times a year because he can cram a bunch of shifts into one month and then take two weeks off.
tumbles, I'm really sorry to hear it. Hang in there.
Tumbles....sorry to hear about your plight...and yes vado she is fine.
I'd like to know from the unfortunate folks that were laid off if their former employers made the immediate decision to lay off or if there was a gradual approach before the layoffs began - i.e. salary/hour reduction, suspension of 401K match, etc.
@ threshold.... thats great advice for all.
along the same lines, here's a great speech worth reading
http://www.february-7.com/features/conan.htm?
If I were to address a BArch or MArch class of 2009 my temptation would be to talk about the diversity of their degree...the options you have outside of traditional architecture. Maybe mention the positive aspects of starting in hard time. Not being tied to a location thanks to a mortgage. Not being trained in any one specality. The flexibility factor. I sure wouldn't be saying how they're all going to run out and design the built environment. God knows that ain't happening soon.
Not that this means a turn around is near...but...
Although I was shipped off to one of our Busy offices in the NE, and things have been looking rather dicey in my office...things seem to have bottomed, dare I say stabilized.
There have been quite a few people doing "busy work" in the office lately...cleaning, filing, "marketing"...non-billable. Everyone has been waiting on the axe to fall any day, but the bosses have been staying possitive.
Well in the past week, 2 projects (smallish) have come back alive from their indefinite holds, and one large Hospitality project will officially kick-off next week (caribbean)
Add to that several large federal and state projects that were hinged on the "Stimulus package" that we have been told, get ready...we will be going "full steam ahead" as soon as funds are released.
Let's hope for the best!
oil your gears bale out money jobs on the horizon
J3 thanks for your post...That is the most positive news I've heard in many months...
meanwhile I'm about to give up on the late great state of California. time for it to just break off and fall into the ocean.
they are about to stop the funding for the 260 or so projects that got 'emergency' clearance to keep going when the bond-funded projects were all halted in December. not to mention all the other things that are about to happen if we can't ever get a damn budget going.
seriously, it is to weep. it only affects a few of our projects in my office (and we are strangely busy at the moment, though the future is always unclear) but as a California citizen the whole situation just makes me want to hurl. is there no hope for meaningful constitutional reform, ever?
maybe if we elected the Pirate Party in 2010
sorry to hear about what happened, tumbleweed. and theparsley, it doesn't sound to great in CA either. "the future is always unclear"... seems to be the sentiment that keeps everyone's stomach churning right now.
i wish there was some better news out there... not only for our profession but for state governments, etc as a whole. J3 seems to have seen a bit of a brighter light. i finally came to the realization the other night that if i am laid off i will leave DC for good. it's entirely too expensive here- and for what... there's no beach here, it's cold, people are rude, and even the crappiest of houses is entirely overpriced even after the housing bubble burst. i find that even in the worst of situations a little sun and sand brings me back around.
my particular studio has two large projects we are clinging to for dear life. but should anything abrupt happen in either of these projects- and/or we reach the deadlines and we have nothing further to work on, then we will most definitely be laid off.
beach here i come
+i I've noticed a general sense of acceptance of the situation amongst co-workers and friends in architecture. Couple good friends were let go a few weeks back. Before it even happened they had their desks largely cleaned out and were both joking about when it would finally happen. Mind you these friends are not bad workers, but you can only go so long with no work.
Contrast your attitude to that of GM and Chrysler. Hardly a soul is willing to buy any of their vehicles, even less without hefty incentives which make their product money losing. Instead of accepting their defeat and forging a massive downsizing they get gov't bailouts to keep their ranks bloated and inefficient.
Meanwhile I contemplate what I might do if laid off. Change in career path? Temporary work in another field? I to accept the reality that there's just way too many architects for far too little work right now, but wonder if we'd be better off not accepting our situation. Pull a GM/Chrysler move and demand an architect bailout. Pay us to design buildings nobody wants, etc. I don't have any illusions that the stimulus will employ tens of thousands of us...so when are we getting our cake?
Please note my sarcasm as if I were in charge the auto companies wouldn't be getting a dime, nor any other failed businesses, aka banks, etc.
Good news guys! I got a promotion to accompany my paycut.
Strawbeary.....they make you the Office Manager and get rid of the other guy?
snook, no, actually, they made him office manager.
congrats Strawbeary!
aquapura- i guess the profession hasn't been quite as "vocal" about a bailout- certainly not in the same way as the car manufacturers- but the AIA has been lobbying for school reconstruction, infrastructure, and other construction projects to be put into that stimulus package for quite sometime now. in fact, just got another ridiculous email yesterday about it. so in a way, that must be our "bailout". in that sense, architects aren't really any better. we just don't get multi-million dollar bonuses. although i wouldn't doubt that the CEO's of SOM, HOK, etc have their own private planes
Let's be clear: calls for massive bail-out money have come from individual corporations and firms. Helping out this or that "industry" is only rhetoric when uttered by CEOs on their knees before Congress.
it won't be just "rhetoric" when all of our interest rates go up and our taxes soar to pay for all of this
"it won't be just "rhetoric" when all of our interest rates go up and our taxes soar to pay for all of this"
GW Bush racked up something like $5 trillion in red ink.
Iraq is $100 per month alone. Bin Laden has succeed in bankrupting the USA thanks to Bush.
Make - I know its not popular to hear this but GW ran a defecit about 3-5% GDP, statistically just under average for the last 50 years. Seriously.
: not sure I can reconcile your most recent comment with this data:
United States National Debt: An Analysis of the Presidents Who Are Responsible for the Borrowing
evil has been outted....or the other guy is just to stoned to understand a graph.
you have to regress the chart against growth in GDP; evilplatypus may still be correct...
sectionalhealing: awesome screen name!
ok ... how abou this one:
National Debt as % of GDP
Looks to me like the "small government" Republicans have been having quite a party since Reagan first took over the White House!
exactly, +i, that's the point.
exactly citizen- i didn't claim any political affiliation. all i said was that eventually this will all have to be paid for- that isn't left or right, it's just balancing the checkbook. don't think the Fed will keep rates this low forever.
the AIA did lobby on behalf of us to get some of this stimulus:
"When policymakers began laying the groundwork for this economic stimulus package last November, members said the AIA should do all it could on their behalf to improve the plan. Our goal from the start was to ensure that if taxpayer dollars were spent to build new infrastructure, the projects had to be built better: greener, more high performing buildings, a 21st century transportation system, better designed schools and hospitals, and—perhaps most importantly—financial relief for the thousands of design firms struggling through this economic crisis."
just because we're printing money to make new jobs doesn't mean we aren't going to have to pay for it in the long run.
Who out there other than Japan and China can afford to buy US treasury bonds?
The stimulus means nothing if we can’t borrow the money. And many other countries already passed their economic stimulus plans so we will be competing for limited dollars in the global market.
The problem with trying to tag a president with national debt is that the president doesn't write the bills...that's congress. Not that I want to defend any political party. It's just completely false to say that one party is more fiscally responsible than the other. Both spend, just different priorities for that spending. The current congress appears to be hell bent on breaking all records in federal spending and unfortunately our presidents, both repub and dem, have been all to willing to sign that spending into law.
aqua: the president is the Chief Executive, and consequently has tremendous influence over what happens in DC. it's not an accident that we refer to the 90s as the Clinton era instead of the 33rd (or whatever) Congress era. the President has the veto at his disposal -- most haven't the balls to use it effectively.
our government is based heavily on the idea of "checks and balances" .. the President has enormous power over what does, or does not, happen in Washington .. in the end, the buck stops at the Chief Executive's desk. I need look no farther than the Bush years, in which the President, supported by his party, embarked on endless tax cuts while embroiling the country in that stupid war in Iraq. Spending up / collections down.
I am NOT persuaded that the increase in national debt over the past 8 years belongs significantly other than to Herbert Hoover Bush.
Plus we had a surplus when Clinton left office...and Bush squandered it.
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