The massive stimulus package boosted real GDP by up to 4.5 percent in the second quarter of 2010 and put up to 3.3 million people to work, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said on Tuesday.These numbers are quite astounding, and show just how government action can put Americans back to work. In an alternate political universe, one could imagine a President threatening to keep Congress in session so long as it took -- even up to election day and into the lame duck session -- to enact further stimulus legislation to help even more Americans find jobs, hammering obstructionist Republicans daily for blocking this works bill. But I'm not holding my breath just yet...
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Stimulus Created 3.3 Million Jobs in 3 Months this Year
Reuters has the details:
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Jonathan, Obama appointed a very weak economic team and has never done a good job of making the case for a large stimulus and government spending as a way to get the economy going. From the beginning of 2009, economists were talking about the need for more than $1 trillion in spending, but Obama asked for $800 billion instead (that became the ceiling for Congress). Then Obama made a bunch of concessions that reduced the stimulative value of the bill and didn't win any Republican votes in the House.
ReplyDeleteYou know as well as I do that Obama's not going to keep Congress in session until they pass X or Y. That's not his style. Lowballing the stimulus and not seizing the moment now could cost him a lot in 2012, but it will be too late by then.