While much of the country was trying to find, foster, or avoid love during Valentine’s Day, President Obama’s Stimulus Package (or more formally the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) looked to be on its way to passing, and it seemed appropriate to pass along a little information on how this will directly affect the South.

A Wall Street Journal article breaks down an earlier version of the stimulus bill to see how each state fares – and Florida was not at the top. But, on an unusual note, Alabama and Georgia are both doing better for per-capita spending compared to New York and Massachusettes.

WSJ Stimulus Map

In a recent article by Panama City’s local news station WMBB 13 (which our very own Lawrence Bowdish claimed in a previous post stands for “World’s Most Beautiful Beaches”), Congressman Allen Boyd (D-North Florida) was interviewing about the stimulus package. The article notes that the “final stimulus package is expected to create or save approximately 8,300 jobs in the 2nd District of Florida alone and over 200,000 jobs throughout the state of Florida.”

In a slightly more negative slant, an article in The Daily Beast offered an analysis of the then-in-formation Stimulus Package and concludes that “The vote about the stimulus package was not about economics. It was about nullification. It was the bipartisan Confederacy sending a message to the rest of America, stricken by the greatest crisis since the Depression. That message? DROP DEAD.”

A recent Gainseville Sun article, Florida Governor Charlie Crist weighed in on how the stimulus package could benefit Florida, emphasizing how it could help “balance the state’s budget, build highways and bridges, expand mass transit and modernize schools.”

And if you’re looking to buy a home in the Florida Panhandle (or, God bless you, already own a home there), there’s a site for you: Florida Panhandle Mortgage Blog. In a recent post, the authors discussed how the bill affects North Florida, specifically USDA rural homes.