Stimulus Worked- Who Knew?

Courtesy of a friend, here is the most important story that I have heard for a long time:

"Stimulus Raised GDP by Up to 4.2% in First Quarter: CBO

The massive U.S. stimulus package put up to 3.4 million people to work and boosted GDP by up to 4.6 percent in the first three months of 2010, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said on Tuesday."

But of course, while Obama and the Democrats were succeeding at this Herculean task, the Republicans were succeeding too- they have succeeded in convincing large parts of the American people that the stimulus was a colossal failure, and that Obama is utterly incompetent, so we should turn control of our economy back to the people who destroyed it.

Sad to say, it's a tossup whether the truth or Republican lies will win the day next November.

Comments

Jean Valjean said…
Forget tackling Climate Change next. We've got to revamp the FCC rules on media ownership. Why is our country's populace propagandized by an Australian? And we just sit and take it.
Derek said…
"Sad to say, it's a tossup whether the truth or Republican lies will win the day next November."

Remember that government spending is part of GDP. Also, the bill wasn't designed to raise GDP, it was made for jobs, jobs, and jobs. Our unemployment rate is still at 9.5%, far higher than what the dems and Obama said it would be with the stimulus a year ago.

We've spent trillions and we have very little to show for it.
Green Eagle said…
"The massive U.S. stimulus package put up to 3.4 million people to work and boosted GDP by up to 4.6 percent"

Are you unable to read, Derek? This is not "very little" despite your Republican talking-points denial. This is very substantial progress.

There is one reason and one reason only why unemployment has not come down more- the Bush administration carefully hid how much damage their conservative economic cant has caused.

By the way, I don't ever remember Republicans giving a damn about unemployment until they thought they could use it to batter a Democratic president.
Derek said…
Actually, there is no way to count how many people it put to work. When the plan was presented, it was said both by Democrats and Obama that the plan would keep unemployment under 8%. We have lost over 3 million private sector jobs since Obama took office.

"I don't ever remember Republicans giving a damn about unemployment until they thought they could use it to batter a Democratic president."

It wasn't a problem until Democrats took Congress.

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