Wednesday, February 17, 2010

A year later the President is claiming that the $787 billion stimulus package has worked. There is not much agreement with that position.

The stimulus did not perform as promised, so it is hard to see how it is successful. At the time the stimulus package was enacted the Administration claimed that unemployment would reach 10% without stimulus, but with stimulus it would only reach 8%. Well, it reached 10.5%.

The President also continues to make the jobs created or saved argument. He claims that 1.5 to 2 million jobs have been created or saved due to the stimulus. Certainly, these jobs have not been created, or unemployment would not have increased beyond the worse predictions. Which leaves only the saved side. Jobs saved is not an economic argument because it is a bullshit weasel term. There is no way to know if jobs are "saved."

It is disappointing to see our President struggle so hard to find any positive accomplishment of his first year.

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