President Obamas economic stimulus failed.
Youve heard this over and over again from the mouths of virtually every Teapublican. They all loudly proclaim President Obamas stimulus plan a complete and utter failure. They make it sound as if Democrats wasted $787 billion of taxpayer money. But as you’ll see, its just another Teapublican lie. To learn the truth, I turned to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
In the second quarter of 2010 (one year after its passage), CBO estimated that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) had:
– Raised the level of real (inflation-adjusted) gross domestic product (GDP) by between 1.7 percent and 4.5 percent
– Lowered the unemployment rate by between 0.7 percentage points and 1.8 percentage points
– Increased the number of people employed by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million
– Increased the number of full-time-equivalent (FTE) jobs by 2.0 million to 4.8 million
Similarly, in the second quarter of 2011, the CBO estimated that ARRAs policies had the following effects compared with what would have occurred otherwise:
– Raised real (inflation-adjusted) gross domestic product by between 0.8 percent and 2.5 percent
– Lowered the unemployment rate by between 0.5 percentage points and 1.6 percentage points
– Increased the number of people employed by between 1.0 million and 2.9 million
– Increased the number of full-time-equivalent (FTE) jobs by 1.4 million to 4.0 million
And even though CBO has said that the employment effects will wane in 2012, it estimates ARRA will raise real GDP in 2012 by between 0.3 percent and 0.8 percent and will increase the number of people employed in 2012 by between 0.4 million and 1.1 million.
Some failure!
The real question about the economic stimulus is, “Where would we now be without it?”