The Stimulus Is Working

Posted on 12/01/2009 at 1:50 pm by Bob Cesca

Suck it, Republicans:

Between 600,000 and 1.6 million jobs were created or saved through September as a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, according to a Congressional Budget Office report.

The data, released Monday, say the real inflation-adjusted gross domestic product was 1.2 percent to 3.2 percent higher than it would have been had the $787 billion stimulus package not passed in February. Also, the stimulus lowered the unemployment by between 0.3 and 0.9 percentage points, according to the report.

Yeah, 10.2 percent unemployment is awful and the Democrats need to pass another jobs bill right away or else. But this proves that spending equals growth equals jobs equals recovery. It’s the ridiculousness of the corporate press and the Republicans that put this very basic economic notion into doubt, but don’t hold your breath waiting for a retraction of all the red-baiting and concern-trolling we endured last February/March.

Adding… Imagine what a $1 trillion stimulus loaded with more infrastructure would’ve accomplished.

This entry was posted in Economy and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.
  • JG

    Maybe if the media reported this 1/100th as much as they reported “the surge worked” people would realize it is working. I also got a tax CUT–again, where is the “liberal” media on this???

  • kansasdem

    Once again you’re spot on!Just here in our little burg we saw both of the main entrances to town completely rebuilt and repaved. Those were projects that wouldn’t have been done otherwise!That not only created construction jobs but helped feed an otherwise ailing local economy, because most of the workers boarded here, ate here, and basically spent a large part of their earnings here.The improvement in infrastructure also lured one small business to build a facility along one of these roads. I’ll grant you it’s a small business with only about 4 or 5 employees, but even a little growth is better than NO growth.One other small town in the area snagged funds for a new sewer plant. If we must acquire debt, infrastructure is undoubtedly the best reasoning for acquiring that debt.Sadly I’ve not read one area editorial praising the stimulus, but just the opposite!Idiots!

  • Anne

    Too bad the MSM is dreaming up their dream ticket for 2012 and camped outside Tiger’s mansion.

  • Eric

    Plus – this morning I read a headline somewhere saying that only 1/4 of the budgeted stimulus funds had been doled out so far.

  • eljefejeff

    I’m fully in favor of the stimulus and feel it should’ve been bigger. But the conservative argument to the number of jobs is that, say 25% has been spent, then that’s $200 billion. If 600K jobs were saved or created, then that’s over $300,000 per job(if it’s 1.6M jobs then the number is closer to $125,000 per job).Obviously you also get the infrastructure, education, health care, etc. aspect of it. But how can we quantify that this is indeed sound economic policy that pays for itself in the long run?

  • Irish Girl

    @eljefejeff The argument isn’t that it solves the entire problem. However, if the economy starts going in the right direction, it’s growth is an arithmetic progression…..it feeds itself.

  • jhw22

    @Eric — if even that much. Most will be spent next year. Part of the argument from the Republican’ts was that the stimulus was too long-term, but what it means is that we will have a bigger boost next year and a more stable recovery. Had we gone with their tax cuts, I doubt we would have seen much at all at this point.Jennifer

  • Dr. Squid

    So lessee, $787 billion stimulus, $14T GDP, 3.2% higher than if nothing was done. 3.2% is about 450 billion. And since 450 billion hasn’t been spent yet, the stimulus has worked better than simply adding gummint money to the pot.That’s how a stimulus should work, peoples.