This blog post on how the stimulus worked is too long to re-post so just check it out.
Here's the skinny: Out of 9 major economic studies on the effectiveness of the economic stimulus bill (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act), 6 said it had a significant positive effect on employment and economic growth.
These studies are in addition to the positive ratings of Obama's fiscal stimulus by the CBO, IHS Global Insight, Macroeconomic Advisers, and others (see tables p. 12).
"But we still have 9 pecent unemployment! Of course the stimulus failed!" my far-right friends will retort.
I can't dispute the current unemployment numbers, but then again, without ARRA things would be much worse. Also, let's remind ourselves of the size of the whole we're digging ourselves out of, thanks to Dubya's Great Recession: about 7 million jobs lost, and $15 trillion in household wealth. It's simply not realistic to think we can come back so quickly, especially when there is no source of extra demand (spending) out there besides government.
(Sigh) It's just too bad the stimulus wasn't big enough....
By Dylan Matthews
August 24, 2011 | Washington Post
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