A study by the Center on Budget Policy Priorities on the stimulus:
The Center’s analysis, which covers 36 states and the District of Columbia, examines the effect on poverty of seven [American Recovery & Reinvestment Act] provisions: the expansion of three tax credits for working families, two provisions that strengthen unemployment insurance assistance, a provision that boosts food stamp benefits, and a one-time payment for retirees, veterans, and people with disabilities. Nationally, these provisions are keeping more than 6 million Americans out of poverty and reducing the severity of poverty for 33 million more.[...]
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the legislation as a whole had increased employment by 600,000 to 1.6 million jobs as of September 2009 and is expected to boost employment by 900,000 to 2.3 million jobs by the fourth quarter of this year.
On a human level, this is remarkable. On a political level, it helps to vindicate not only the stimulus but the president’s liberal cred as well.
While much more can and should be done for “Main Street,” these numbers indicate that working class Americans haven’t been totally left behind in lieu of Wall Street. That said, staying out of poverty is one thing, clearing a path to a more robust middle class has to follow.
