2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumNYT: Don’t Tell Anyone, but the Stimulus Worked
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/opinion/sunday/dont-tell-anyone-but-the-stimulus-worked.html?_r=1Dont Tell Anyone, but the Stimulus Worked
Axel Koester/Corbis
Many people benefited from projects like this one near Los Angeles but had no idea that it was part of the Obama stimulus.
By DAVID FIRESTONE
Published: September 15, 2012
snip//
The reputation of the stimulus is meticulously restored from shabby to skillful in Michael Grunwalds important new book, The New New Deal. His findings will come as a jolt to those who think the law failed, the typical Republican assessment, or was too small and sloppy to have any effect.
On the most basic level, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is responsible for saving and creating 2.5 million jobs. The majority of economists agree that it helped the economy grow by as much as 3.8 percent, and kept the unemployment rate from reaching 12 percent.
The stimulus is the reason, in fact, that most Americans are better off than they were four years ago, when the economy was in serious danger of shutting down.
But the stimulus did far more than stimulate: it protected the most vulnerable from the recessions heavy winds. Of the acts $840 billion final cost, $1.5 billion went to rent subsidies and emergency housing that kept 1.2 million people under roofs. (Thats why the recession didnt produce rampant homelessness.) It increased spending on food stamps, unemployment benefits and Medicaid, keeping at least seven million Americans from falling below the poverty line.
snip//
From the beginning, for purely political reasons, Republicans were determined to oppose the bill, using silly but tiny expenditures to discredit the whole thing. Even the moderate Republican senators who helped push the bill past a filibuster had refused to let it grow past $800 billion, and prevented it from paying for school construction.
Republicans learned a lesson from the stimulus that Democrats didnt expect: unwavering opposition, distortion, deceit and ridicule actually work, especially when the opposition doesnt put up a fight. The lesson for Democrats seems equally clear: when government actually works, let the world know about it.
Botany
(70,481 posts)...... run said it worked too.
And the republicans know it worked too and that is why they have worked so hard to
block everything in order to sink the economy in order to blame Obama for his "failed
stimulus and the national debt."
This current crop of republicans are at their core anti American thugs who care more
about money and power then well being of the American people.
DCBob
(24,689 posts)but they cant admit it else they would also have to admit they were wrong.
Botany
(70,481 posts)Rinse lather and repeat.
At the signing of the stimulus three years ago, President Obama said he wanted to be held accountable for the results of his spending binge today, theres no denying the fact that his stimulus policies not only failed, they made things worse. You can see the legacy of the presidents failed stimulus policies all around us: in three straight years of an unemployment rate above eight percent; in gas prices that have nearly doubled; in the need for an extension of the payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits; and in the millions of Americans who are still out of work or have simply given up looking for a job.
Instead of more stimulus policies, Republicans have focused on pro-growth economic policies that remove government barriers to job growth. Unfortunately, most of the nearly 30 House-passed jobs bills are still sitting in the Democratic-controlled Senate awaiting a vote. Unlike the stimulus, our bills were put together in an open process, with debate and amendments allowed, and were mostly passed on a bipartisan basis many with the support of the presidents own jobs council. And unlike the stimulus, these bills would actually help end some of the uncertainty thats hurt small businesses and jeopardized job growth.
But instead of urging Senate Democrats to take up these jobs bills, President Obama submitted a budget to Congress this week with more of the same failed stimulus-style policies. The American people are still asking the question, where are the jobs? We have to do better, and we can start with Senate Democrats taking action on our jobs bills as soon as possible.
Feb. 16 2012 ...... John Boner
http://boehner.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=280829
SharonAnn
(13,772 posts)It has kept a construction company afloat, provided many jobs, and will provide us with a new library.
We had a "shovel ready" project with architect's plans and a budgeted cost. Just didn't have the money and couldn't get a loan because our funding is all through donations and banks said it wasn't a reliable source of income.
We couldn't qualify for a USDA grant because we're an affluent community. We couldn't build it with taxes because we're unincorporated and the county doesn't pay for library buildings though it does pay for some staff and the cost of the state library media leasing program.
We couldn't pay cash for it until we could accumulate a capital fund of over $1 million dollars more than what we had.
We could, however, get a low interest, 40 year mortgage loan from USDA if we came up with 30% of the cost. The library is now almost complete and will open in November.
This financing was made available through the USDA Rural Development program with stimulus funds.
It has been a godsend for our community and wouldn't have been possible without the funding from the stimulus act.
Great real world story of positive effects.
Jennicut
(25,415 posts)Like say...Paul Ryan.
Marr
(20,317 posts)It's like saying we need to tear down all the hospitals because they've failed to fix the sickness problem, but there you go. They tend to be pretty stupid.
greiner3
(5,214 posts)Fox News, Ditto Heads, etc...will be told it did not. It's the under/uninformed voter we NEED to convince!
edhopper
(33,547 posts)"The Government cannot create jobs! So elect me and I will create jobs!"
Response to babylonsister (Original post)
Post removed
Cha
(297,029 posts)and building a strong infrastructure. So Happy the reality of the Stimulus Working is being acknowledged.
Of course, there will always be the brainwashed who suck up fox, limbaugh and ilk who will never admit it. They'd rather show how stupid they are.