The ARRA was passed in February 2009. The recession ended in June 2009. By the end of September 2009 (after the recession had ended), just $36.2 billion had actually been received, either by agencies that would disburse funds, or directly by individuals.
Do you really believe less than $36 billion in ARRA spending had any meaningful impact?
http://www.recovery.gov/Transparency/RecipientReportedData/Pages/QuarterlySum.aspx?qtr=2009Q3
Do you really believe less than $36 billion in ARRA spending had any meaningful impact?
http://www.recovery.gov/Transparency/RecipientReportedData/Pages/QuarterlySum.aspx?qtr=2009Q3
3 comments:
HELL YES!
Without the stimulus, unemployment probably would have hit around 15% and lingerered there. Krugman was right -- the stimulus was far too small.
Stimulus means, basically, "printing money". When you print too much money, either inflation happens (too much monetized debt) or interbank interest rates soar. But we're still facing deflation, not inflation, and interest rates are near zero!
The financial meltdown of 2008 seriously reduced the supply of money in circulation, even more than the Fed's counting methodology could tell. The Republicans are lying about stimulus. The truly wealthy want a big collapse, since they have cash and can afford cheaper labor that way, while the red team politicians just want to create huge disaster that they can falsely pin on Obama.
The stimulus did more harm than good. Projects that would have happened organically were put on the back burner while those planning the projects investigated stimulus funds.
Telecom projects were stalled for more than a year. I've talked with people in other industries that tell the same tale.
We also ended up with projects that didn't need to happen. Perfectly good roads being torn up for no apparent reason, expensive and extravagant bike paths being built, etc. If it's not clear why this is a complete waste, do a quick search for the broken window theory.
The stimulus was a complete waste of time and will cost us dearly in the future.
HELL NO!!
The stimulus did not help this country, itt just bankrupted our future. The left want to blame the Bush administaration for the economic problems, but the policies that caused the recession started long before Bush was in office!
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