Local investors react skeptically to stimulus plan - Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Local investors reached Friday reacted with skepticism to an agreement reached in the Senate on a $780 billion economic stimulus measure.The measure, they said, contains too much money for ongoing government costs for welfare and unemployment benefits, and too little on infrastructure - which they said was stressed in early versions of the bill.
"I personally don't think our valley or our state will feel it directly," said Jeff Burum, a financial entrepreneur and chairman of the Rancho Cucamonga-based Opportunity Fund, a real-estate investment firm.
"It may help specific families, but I don't see the trickle-down effect from this bill," Burum added. "I don't see it happening."
Steve Pontell, president of the Ontario-based La Jolla Institute, said he worried that no one knew what effect the stimulus measure would have mid- or long-term.
The community development planner said he didn't believe government involvement would help the economy to recover.
"It prolongs the pain,"