 The trickle-up effect states that policies that benefit the middle class directly will boost the productivity of society as a whole, and thus those benefits will "trickle up" to the wealthy.On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a $787 billion economic stimulus package aimed at helping the economy recover from the deepening worldwide recession.The act included increased federal spending for health care, infrastructure, education, various tax breaks and incentives, and direct assistance to individuals.