Posted on 02/17/2010 6:58:21 AM PST by SeekAndFind
One year in, the evidence is clear – and growing by the day – that the Recovery Act is working to cushion the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression and lay a new foundation for economic growth.
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the Recovery Act is already responsible for as many as 2.4 million jobs through the end of 2009 As a result, job losses are a fraction of what they were a year ago, before the Recovery Act began The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act:
* Cut taxes for 95 percent of working families through the Making Work Pay tax credit
* Cut taxes for small businesses
* Provided loans to over 42,000 small businesses Funded over 12,500 transportation construction projects nationwide, ranging from highway construction to airport improvement projects
* Made multi-billion dollar investments in innovation, science and technology that are laying the foundation for our 21st century economy
* Provided critical relief for state governments facing record budget shortfalls, including help to prevent cuts to Medicaid and creating or saving over 300,000 education jobs
* Economists on the left and the right have stated that the Recovery Act has helped avert an even worse economic disaster.
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“I realize that for every success story, there are other stories, of men and women who wake up with the anguish of not knowing where their next paycheck will come from; who send out resumes week after week and hear nothing in response. That is why jobs must be our number one focus in 2010.” -- President Obama
The New York Times chimes in :
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/17/business/economy/17leonhardt.html?ref=business
Judging Stimulus by Job Data Reveals Success
By DAVID LEONHARDT
Imagine if, one year ago, Congress had passed a stimulus bill that really worked.
Let’s say this bill had started spending money within a matter of weeks and had rapidly helped the economy. Let’s also imagine it was large enough to have had a huge impact on jobs — employing something like two million people who would otherwise be unemployed right now.
If that had happened, what would the economy look like today?
Well, it would look almost exactly as it does now. Because those nice descriptions of the stimulus that I just gave aren’t hypothetical. They are descriptions of the actual bill.
Just look at the outside evaluations of the stimulus. Perhaps the best-known economic research firms are IHS Global Insight, Macroeconomic Advisers and Moody’s Economy.com. They all estimate that the bill has added 1.6 million to 1.8 million jobs so far and that its ultimate impact will be roughly 2.5 million jobs. The Congressional Budget Office, an independent agency, considers these estimates to be conservative.
Yet I’m guessing you don’t think of the stimulus bill as a big success. You’ve read columns (by me, for example) complaining that it should have spent money more quickly. Or you’ve heard about the phantom ZIP code scandal: the fact that a government Web site mistakenly reported money being spent in nonexistent ZIP codes.
And many of the criticisms are valid. The program has had its flaws. But the attention they have received is wildly disproportionate to their importance. To hark back to another big government program, it’s almost as if the lasting image of the lunar space program was Apollo 6, an unmanned 1968 mission that had engine problems, and not Apollo 11, the moon landing.
The reasons for the stimulus’s middling popularity aren’t a mystery. The unemployment rate remains near 10 percent, and many families are struggling. Saying that things could have been even worse doesn’t exactly inspire. Liberals don’t like the stimulus because they wish it were bigger. Republicans don’t like it because it’s a Democratic program. The Obama administration hurt the bill’s popularity by making too rosy an economic forecast upon taking office.
Moreover, the introduction of the most visible parts of the program — spending on roads, buildings and the like — has been a bit sluggish. Aid to states, unemployment benefits and some tax provisions have been more successful and account for far more of the bill. But their successes are not obvious.
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This chart is so bogus it is off the charts.
Where’s the graph that shows completion of ‘shovel ready’ projects?
Straight out of Mein Kampf’s chapter on propaganda. Tell a big lie often enough, and people will be believe it.
Organizing For America.....you people make my ass sick!
O.K.,they printed or borrowed money to pay government employees. Happy days are here again.
0bama and the boys must be smoking crack.
Well, Duh!! At the beginning of this recession, millions of jobs were lost. Obviously, the number of jobs being lost each month will have to go down. YOU CAN'T JUST KEEP LOOSING MILLIONS OF JOBS A MONTH.
Please correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t the “Making Work Pay tax credit” the reduction in witholdings that would have to be paid back at tax time?
Aren’t the emporor’s new clothes fabulous?!
Further, if the liberals are correct, then the Congressional Budget Office was WRONG when it reported there would be a bit of a recovery by the 3rd quarter of 2010 regardless of government action.
Hm. Who should I believe? Sorry, stinky BO. Can't go with you.
So let’s be clear: increasing unemployment—exactly what BO said would NOT happen—is evidence the PORKULUS package is working.
Further, if the liberals are correct, then the Congressional Budget Office was WRONG when it reported there would be a bit of a recovery by the 3rd quarter of 2010 regardless of government action.
Hm. Who should I believe? Sorry, stinky BO. Can’t go with you.
The left side of the graph should not be titled “Bush Administration”, it should be titled “Democrat Control of Congress”. If they went back before that control it would show job growth.
“Let’s also imagine it was large enough to have had a huge impact on jobs — employing something like two million people who would otherwise be unemployed right now.”
Seriously? With all the jobs that have been lost, they’re gonna say it would have been 2 million more? How do they know?
“Cut taxes for 95 percent of working families through the Making Work Pay tax credit”
Wait until they file their tax returns and have pay it back. They only reduced the withholding on your check, not your taxes. Anyone could have done that themselves, you will just owe more at the end of the year. DUH!
If today's continuing economic woes are to be blamed on the actions of the Bush administration, then why are they not crediting the recovery on the actions of the Bush administration as well?
Should that not be the way things work?
Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine; In memoria æterna erit justus, ab auditione mala non timebit.
Beauseant!
MISSION:
To date, the organization's activities have centered around political activism in favor of Obama's early legislative goals including the 2009 stimulus package and Democratic Party plans to reform the healthcare system. Another stated goal of OFA is alleviating perceived political apathy and increasing support for the Democratic Party.
On October 20, 2009, OFA hosted a national phone bank event intended to encourage elected federal officials to support Obama's healthcare proposals. A stated goal of achieving 100,000 phone calls was exceeded, with 300,000 calls ultimately made. The event was considered successful by liberal activists.
The White House officially denies any involvement in OFA activities and takes pains to point out that it is an independent organization whenever questions about OFA are asked at official press briefings[1]. While the Obama administration claims to not be involved with OFA, it is housed at barackobama.com. Many see OFA to be part of a continuous campaign mode, operating a reelection campaign for 4 years. There are also fears that OFA was involved in the flag@whitehouse.gov incident from August 2009 where the White House was suspected of collecting names of political opponents.
The Contact Us page of Organizing for America has a button link for "Other Thoughts and Questions". Clicking this image link will take the user to another page on barackobama.com that links directly and solely to the whitehouse.gov contacts page for feedback. This also brings into question the independence of Organizing for America and the Obama administration.
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