Earn What You Spend

A bailout has a negative connotation.  It’s easily equated with a handout - which some view as an act of giving something to someone who doesn’t necessarily deserve it.  

Stimulus, on the other hand, has a significantly more positive connotation.  We say certain effects are stimulative, which is a word we also associate with coffee, great entertainment, and thought-provoking books.  Those are all good things.

Each of the actions the government has taken to address our current economic crisis could be framed using either word.  The stimulus bill that just passed could easily have been called the “Bailout of America 2009 Act.”  But it wasn’t.  It was is referred to as the stimulus bill. 

[Of course many of you will note that there is a proper difference between these two words as defined by economists.  But that's not the point.  Rather, it's about how these issues are framed to maintain public support, even if the definitions don't go by the book.]

So which word is being searched more frequently?  Stimulus, by a long shot. 

In early February, Paul Krugman noted that the difference between these two words as they related to the stimulus bill wasn’t understood by the public.  Perhaps the Obama administration finally took control of framing this debate.