Why do Republicans hate entitlements - except for the rich?

[Big Fitz]

Righties even seem unable to grasp that $1.00 of unemployment insurance benefits provides a bang for the buck of $1.61—that is, for every $1 in UI benefits, GDP one year later is increased by an estimated $1.61.

http://www.economy.com/mark-zandi/d...e-Committee-Unemployment Insurance-041410.pdf

Please stop trying to get that tired dog to hunt...nobody bought it when Nancy Pelosi trotted it out a year and a half ago and nobody (with a whit of common sense) buys it now.

Just because Nancy Pelosi was the one to present the information does not mean she was the source of the information. Do you have information or FACTS that are contrary to the report provided by Moody's?

The industry research firm Moody's Economy.com tracked the potential impact of each stimulus dollar, looking at tax rebates, tax incentives for business, food stamps and expanding unemployment benefits.

The report found that "some provide a lot of bang for the buck to the economy. Others ... don't," said economist Mark Zandi.

In findings echoed by other economists and studies, he said the study shows the fastest way to infuse money into the economy is through expanding the food-stamp program. For every dollar spent on that program $1.73 is generated throughout the economy, he said.​

Food stamps offer best stimulus - study

the stupidity implied is such statements and hackneyed logic is beyond contempt.

The government cannot create wealth. Sitting there redistributing money from one person to another and thinking that this is economic activity and growth is a pack of lies.

 

[initforme]

Ask the Bachmanns. They hate medicare. I imagine they sent all that money back instead of taking it.

If am all for ending SS, medicare, etc if you

1) DRAMATICALLY lower health care costs, perhaps by more than 70 percent so the average working middle class person could actually afford them without paying some greedy filthy insurance company overbloated premiums only to have them be able to deny your services. This means mandatory salary decreases for doctors, big greedy pharmaceuticals, etc.

2) Privatize SS and GUARANTEE a better return on your investment. If the market crashes, you still get your money you paid in.

Then we can do this.

 

[Big Fitz]

They're called entitlements because we are entitled to them. We paid for them. Call it insurance if you prefer, but they aren't some giveaway.

You can also look at welfare as an insurance program against crime. When you are out of options and you are facing a hungry child, a parent will do pretty much anything to give that child something to eat...and that includes committing a crime.

We've got a ratio of one job to every five applicants...that's a lot of hungry people.

Thank you for finally admitting what these programs are: blackmail payouts by scared liberals trying to pacify the poor into not committing crime on them.

So in reality, all your support for this form of government activity is nothing more than fearful payouts to potential muggers.

So what's the real truth here? Poor people become criminals, or are just criminals poor?

I feel like Mortimer Duke just walked into the room and bet his brother Randall a dollar.

 

[Steelplate]

OMG. the DAILYKOS.

And guess what it's about, the rich the rich the rich the rich the rich the rich..

They should go ask all their friggen RICH representatives WHAT the hell is up with ALL YOUR RICHES..

But they won't, they will just piss and moan and play the CLASS warfare games and continue to say the Republican have a war(how nice choice of words there eh?) the working people..... because THAT IS ALL THEY GOT folks.

What the fuck don't you self righteous liberals get. US WORKING PEOPLE who PAY ALL THE TAXES are BROKE. we can't fund all your favorite class warfare games (entitlement) anymore. you all can go to hell

Maybe you should be a liberal then... The working people ARE broke... but the really wealthy in this country... No, I am not talking about your $300k-$1M/year people... but the truly wealthy are making money hand over fist. Maybe you should ask them why you are being overly burdened and broke while they keep expanding their wealth exponentially.

Furthermore... while you are asking them that, perhaps you should ask them why they refuse to invest in this country and it's people. It's kind of funny how up until Reagan, entitlements weren't a problem and were an accepted and lauded part of our society. After Reagan.... when Big Business started taking over the country, it has become the bane of society. Did you ever think... just once... clear your mind of the Conservative mantra that you have so ingrained in your head... okay... ready(probably not)?

Did you ever think that they want Medicare and Social Security dissolved so that Wall Street and private insurance companies can get their hands on that money too? The whole point of Social Security and Medicare is specifically NOT to have it be "for profit" and subject it to the risk taking of Wall Street and the cost cutting and Cold Blooded actuarial processes of Insurance Companies.

That is OUR money that has been specifically taken from our paychecks to provide those benefits to us. I don't want a middleman sucking a part of that money away, and I certainly don't want to have my Social Security subject to the next time Wall Street fucks up.

So declare investments income and try to tax that at 90%. You won't have a rich person left in this nation inside of 6 months.

What will you do then? Hunt them down and drag them back to pay taxes and force them to earn in this nation?

Well seig heil to you to, sport.

Nice...You wanna drag it down to opposing extremes? How typically Rush Limbaugh of you, sport.

Ok... let's do it. Let's just simply let Big Business keep investing in say... China.... There's over a billion of them to work for them and they have a dirt cheap cost of living... we only have 400M people, an aging population and a high cost of living. So Big Business decides to kill America off and go for the big profits in China... after all, they have a long way to go to even get to our minimum wage, they already have Universal Health Care in place so there's no overhead on providing health care for them, and as their buying power increases, there's a huge market for them to sell their shit to.

Yeah... let's not protect American Jobs, American Workers and the American economy. All Hail the world domination of the Conglomerate and the total destruction of America... Yay Conservatives.

 

[Seawytch]

Please stop trying to get that tired dog to hunt...nobody bought it when Nancy Pelosi trotted it out a year and a half ago and nobody (with a whit of common sense) buys it now.

Just because Nancy Pelosi was the one to present the information does not mean she was the source of the information. Do you have information or FACTS that are contrary to the report provided by Moody's?

The industry research firm Moody's Economy.com tracked the potential impact of each stimulus dollar, looking at tax rebates, tax incentives for business, food stamps and expanding unemployment benefits.

The report found that "some provide a lot of bang for the buck to the economy. Others ... don't," said economist Mark Zandi.

In findings echoed by other economists and studies, he said the study shows the fastest way to infuse money into the economy is through expanding the food-stamp program. For every dollar spent on that program $1.73 is generated throughout the economy, he said.​

Food stamps offer best stimulus - study

the stupidity implied is such statements and hackneyed logic is beyond contempt.

The government cannot create wealth. Sitting there redistributing money from one person to another and thinking that this is economic activity and growth is a pack of lies.

Just an "FYI", ad hominem aren't facts. Nobody has provided any FACTS to counter those reported by Moody's.

 

[Big Fitz]

That doesn't make it a Ponzi scheme. It can be FIXED without being destroyed (which has, seemingly, been the Republican goal for years). Remove the income cap.

Know what will also help? Getting more people working.

Fix SS? Sure. Follow the Ryan Plan and begin privatization.

Perfect example of destroy not fix. Ryan's "Cat Food for Grandma" plan...brilliant.

That would have worked out well if Bush had been successful in privatizing SS during his Presidency (when he tanked the economy) wouldn't it?

The first "entitlements" to be cut should be the ones to corporations that are making a profit...not to the things Americans are actually entitled to...like the SS they've been paying into all their lives.

"Entitlements" like tax breaks for actually moving jobs overseas.

Republicans block ending offshore jobs tax breaks

Shipping Jobs Overseas: How the Tax Code Subsidizes Foreign Investment and How to Fix It

Before we look to the least among us that will be most hurt by cutting their social safety nets, let's look to those that won't be hurt in the least by making them pay their taxes...

Tax Time? Not for Giant Corporations

You need to educate yourself instead of listening to radical commie talking points about how it would destroy social security when it most certainly would not.

Social Security | A Roadmap for America's Future | The Budget Committee Republicans

• Preserves the existing Social Security program for those 55 or older.
• Offers workers under 55 the option of investing over one third of their current Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts, similar to the Thrift Savings Plan available to Federal employees. Includes a property right so they can pass on these assets to their heirs, and a guarantee that individuals will not lose a dollar they contribute to their accounts, even after inflation.
• Makes the program permanently solvent – according to the Congressional Budget Office [CBO] – by combining a more realistic measure of growth in Social Security’s initial benefits, with an eventual modernization of the retirement age.

Please show how this is destruction, an not preservation?

 

[Seawytch]

They're called entitlements because we are entitled to them. We paid for them. Call it insurance if you prefer, but they aren't some giveaway.

You can also look at welfare as an insurance program against crime. When you are out of options and you are facing a hungry child, a parent will do pretty much anything to give that child something to eat...and that includes committing a crime.

We've got a ratio of one job to every five applicants...that's a lot of hungry people.

Thank you for finally admitting what these programs are: blackmail payouts by scared liberals trying to pacify the poor into not committing crime on them.

So in reality, all your support for this form of government activity is nothing more than fearful payouts to potential muggers.

So what's the real truth here? Poor people become criminals, or are just criminals poor?

I feel like Mortimer Duke just walked into the room and bet his brother Randall a dollar.

I'm pointing out the realities of what welfare programs for the very poor are intended for. It is much less expensive to feed someone than it is to hire a police force to keep them from trying to feed themselves.

 

[Big Fitz]

Just because Nancy Pelosi was the one to present the information does not mean she was the source of the information. Do you have information or FACTS that are contrary to the report provided by Moody's?

The industry research firm Moody's Economy.com tracked the potential impact of each stimulus dollar, looking at tax rebates, tax incentives for business, food stamps and expanding unemployment benefits.

The report found that "some provide a lot of bang for the buck to the economy. Others ... don't," said economist Mark Zandi.

In findings echoed by other economists and studies, he said the study shows the fastest way to infuse money into the economy is through expanding the food-stamp program. For every dollar spent on that program $1.73 is generated throughout the economy, he said.​

Food stamps offer best stimulus - study

the stupidity implied is such statements and hackneyed logic is beyond contempt.

The government cannot create wealth. Sitting there redistributing money from one person to another and thinking that this is economic activity and growth is a pack of lies.

Just an "FYI", ad hominem aren't facts. Nobody has provided any FACTS to counter those reported by Moody's.

When you run this theory out to it's full extention it collapses.

What is the percentage of people that can be on welfare before it becomes a drain on the economy? 10%? 50%? 100%?

If everyone's on welfare, who's earning to pay for it? Even the Laffer Curve can be applied to this monstrosity of logic and show that at a certain point it becomes unsustainable because there are not enough wage earners to pay for this "Economic benefit".

You can't put everyone on foodstamps, and stimulate the economy. The prices will just adjust. Government does NOT create wealth. It only steals it from one wealthier person to give to another... and not necessarily a less wealthy one as well.

The only... ONLY way to fix this problem is to end every last one of those entitlements.

"The world doesn't owe you anything. It was here first." Mark Twain.

 

[Seawytch]

Welfare should be a hand up not a hand out (except for those that are unable to work). I support job training programs and putting people to work.

How are we going to do that? It's obvious that tax break aren't doing it.

 

[Big Fitz]

Maybe you should be a liberal then... The working people ARE broke... but the really wealthy in this country... No, I am not talking about your $300k-$1M/year people... but the truly wealthy are making money hand over fist. Maybe you should ask them why you are being overly burdened and broke while they keep expanding their wealth exponentially.

Furthermore... while you are asking them that, perhaps you should ask them why they refuse to invest in this country and it's people. It's kind of funny how up until Reagan, entitlements weren't a problem and were an accepted and lauded part of our society. After Reagan.... when Big Business started taking over the country, it has become the bane of society. Did you ever think... just once... clear your mind of the Conservative mantra that you have so ingrained in your head... okay... ready(probably not)?

Did you ever think that they want Medicare and Social Security dissolved so that Wall Street and private insurance companies can get their hands on that money too? The whole point of Social Security and Medicare is specifically NOT to have it be "for profit" and subject it to the risk taking of Wall Street and the cost cutting and Cold Blooded actuarial processes of Insurance Companies.

That is OUR money that has been specifically taken from our paychecks to provide those benefits to us. I don't want a middleman sucking a part of that money away, and I certainly don't want to have my Social Security subject to the next time Wall Street fucks up.

So declare investments income and try to tax that at 90%. You won't have a rich person left in this nation inside of 6 months.

What will you do then? Hunt them down and drag them back to pay taxes and force them to earn in this nation?

Well seig heil to you to, sport.

Nice...You wanna drag it down to opposing extremes? How typically Rush Limbaugh of you, sport.

Ok... let's do it. Let's just simply let Big Business keep investing in say... China.... There's over a billion of them to work for them and they have a dirt cheap cost of living... we only have 400M people, an aging population and a high cost of living. So Big Business decides to kill America off and go for the big profits in China... after all, they have a long way to go to even get to our minimum wage, they already have Universal Health Care in place so there's no overhead on providing health care for them, and as their buying power increases, there's a huge market for them to sell their shit to.

Yeah... let's not protect American Jobs, American Workers and the American economy. All Hail the world domination of the Conglomerate and the total destruction of America... Yay Conservatives.

So you bravely run away from the truth. Entitlements are the problem because you are owed nothing from another person by dint of being you. Regardless of mitigating circumstances.

The evil of charity perverted malignantly lives on.

 

[Big Fitz]

Welfare should be a hand up not a hand out (except for those that are unable to work). I support job training programs and putting people to work.

How are we going to do that? It's obvious that tax break aren't doing it.

Oh what a glib talking point. I've never seen welfare be a hand up. What is a hand up? Cutting government interference on the employers so they can hire someone to earn a wage.

 

[Seawytch]

the stupidity implied is such statements and hackneyed logic is beyond contempt.

The government cannot create wealth. Sitting there redistributing money from one person to another and thinking that this is economic activity and growth is a pack of lies.

Just an "FYI", ad hominem aren't facts. Nobody has provided any FACTS to counter those reported by Moody's.

When you run this theory out to it's full extention it collapses.

What is the percentage of people that can be on welfare before it becomes a drain on the economy? 10%? 50%? 100%?

If everyone's on welfare, who's earning to pay for it? Even the Laffer Curve can be applied to this monstrosity of logic and show that at a certain point it becomes unsustainable because there are not enough wage earners to pay for this "Economic benefit".

You can't put everyone on foodstamps, and stimulate the economy. The prices will just adjust. Government does NOT create wealth. It only steals it from one wealthier person to give to another... and not necessarily a less wealthy one as well.

The only... ONLY way to fix this problem is to end every last one of those entitlements.

"The world doesn't owe you anything. It was here first." Mark Twain.

It is the stimulative effects of each that was being studied. We are about to fall into a double dip recession and our economy needs a boost. The study clearly points out which programs ARE and ARE NOT the most stimulative.

For long term economic growth, we need jobs. How we gonna get those back here when we don't make anything?

 

[Mr.Nick]

The Republican message about Entitlements is consistent. No matter what the topic, what the media, what the question...the reply is to end Entitlements. When you ask Republicans to explain their vaunted "values", the ultimate effort is to combat Entitlements. Every lie, every sleazy PR tactic, every mile of astroturf, every phony "popular uprising" are simply means justifying the holy Crusade (which often literally involves hoisting the Cross, or other religious symbols). Republicans are demanding their own Entitlement: the entitlement of the rich to channel all resources into maximizing their personal wealth.

MORE: The Alternative to Cutting Entitlements: FUND ENTITLEMENTS

The rich get entitlements?

How is keeping the money you earn (for all) an entitlement?

What the fuck is wrong with you?

Who the fuck do you think you are???

An individual that creates wealth is entitled to it.

 

[Big Fitz]

They're called entitlements because we are entitled to them. We paid for them. Call it insurance if you prefer, but they aren't some giveaway.

You can also look at welfare as an insurance program against crime. When you are out of options and you are facing a hungry child, a parent will do pretty much anything to give that child something to eat...and that includes committing a crime.

We've got a ratio of one job to every five applicants...that's a lot of hungry people.

Thank you for finally admitting what these programs are: blackmail payouts by scared liberals trying to pacify the poor into not committing crime on them.

So in reality, all your support for this form of government activity is nothing more than fearful payouts to potential muggers.

So what's the real truth here? Poor people become criminals, or are just criminals poor?

I feel like Mortimer Duke just walked into the room and bet his brother Randall a dollar.

I'm pointing out the realities of what welfare programs for the very poor are intended for. It is much less expensive to feed someone than it is to hire a police force to keep them from trying to feed themselves.

You've never lived among the truly poor, have you? If you make poverty comfortable enough, it will become permanent grow. A basic truth of economics: Tax what you want less of, subsidize what you want more of.

This is a truth that stretches back to Mesopotamia and King Xerxes.

 

[Big Fitz]

Just an "FYI", ad hominem aren't facts. Nobody has provided any FACTS to counter those reported by Moody's.

When you run this theory out to it's full extention it collapses.

What is the percentage of people that can be on welfare before it becomes a drain on the economy? 10%? 50%? 100%?

If everyone's on welfare, who's earning to pay for it? Even the Laffer Curve can be applied to this monstrosity of logic and show that at a certain point it becomes unsustainable because there are not enough wage earners to pay for this "Economic benefit".

You can't put everyone on foodstamps, and stimulate the economy. The prices will just adjust. Government does NOT create wealth. It only steals it from one wealthier person to give to another... and not necessarily a less wealthy one as well.

The only... ONLY way to fix this problem is to end every last one of those entitlements.

"The world doesn't owe you anything. It was here first." Mark Twain.

It is the stimulative effects of each that was being studied. We are about to fall into a double dip recession and our economy needs a boost. The study clearly points out which programs ARE and ARE NOT the most stimulative.

For long term economic growth, we need jobs. How we gonna get those back here when we don't make anything?

and we know how well government stimulus has worked. Now we have trickle down misery and powerful growth in the poverty market.

As for job growth? Look at what's impeding jobs in this nation for once. High taxes, unreasonable regulation, poor investment climate due to taxes among other things.

 

[Oldstyle]

They're called entitlements because we are entitled to them. We paid for them. Call it insurance if you prefer, but they aren't some giveaway.

You can also look at welfare as an insurance program against crime. When you are out of options and you are facing a hungry child, a parent will do pretty much anything to give that child something to eat...and that includes committing a crime.

We've got a ratio of one job to every five applicants...that's a lot of hungry people.

Are you REALLY this dense? You're entitled to entitlements because you paid for them? When? We haven't "paid for them". We're having to borrow money to pay for them. Surely even someone as fundamentally clueless as yourself can grasp that concept?

 

[Neotrotsky]

When you run this theory out to it's full extention it collapses.

What is the percentage of people that can be on welfare before it becomes a drain on the economy? 10%? 50%? 100%?

If everyone's on welfare, who's earning to pay for it? Even the Laffer Curve can be applied to this monstrosity of logic and show that at a certain point it becomes unsustainable because there are not enough wage earners to pay for this "Economic benefit".

You can't put everyone on foodstamps, and stimulate the economy. The prices will just adjust. Government does NOT create wealth. It only steals it from one wealthier person to give to another... and not necessarily a less wealthy one as well.

The only... ONLY way to fix this problem is to end every last one of those entitlements.

"The world doesn't owe you anything. It was here first." Mark Twain.

It is the stimulative effects of each that was being studied. We are about to fall into a double dip recession and our economy needs a boost. The study clearly points out which programs ARE and ARE NOT the most stimulative.

For long term economic growth, we need jobs. How we gonna get those back here when we don't make anything?

and we know how well government stimulus has worked. Now we have trickle down misery and powerful growth in the poverty market.

As for job growth? Look at what's impeding jobs in this nation for once. High taxes, unreasonable regulation, poor investment climate due to taxes among other things.

after the downgrade can you really trust what the Left says about finances and the economy
For example PapaObama Care was going to instantly create 400,000 jobs



[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNiLYEiFUMU]‪Obamacare will create 400,000 jobs ALMOST IMMEDIATELY, says Choppy Hands McBotox‬‏ - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Oldstyle]

Maybe you should be a liberal then... The working people ARE broke... but the really wealthy in this country... No, I am not talking about your $300k-$1M/year people... but the truly wealthy are making money hand over fist. Maybe you should ask them why you are being overly burdened and broke while they keep expanding their wealth exponentially.

Furthermore... while you are asking them that, perhaps you should ask them why they refuse to invest in this country and it's people. It's kind of funny how up until Reagan, entitlements weren't a problem and were an accepted and lauded part of our society. After Reagan.... when Big Business started taking over the country, it has become the bane of society. Did you ever think... just once... clear your mind of the Conservative mantra that you have so ingrained in your head... okay... ready(probably not)?

Did you ever think that they want Medicare and Social Security dissolved so that Wall Street and private insurance companies can get their hands on that money too? The whole point of Social Security and Medicare is specifically NOT to have it be "for profit" and subject it to the risk taking of Wall Street and the cost cutting and Cold Blooded actuarial processes of Insurance Companies.

That is OUR money that has been specifically taken from our paychecks to provide those benefits to us. I don't want a middleman sucking a part of that money away, and I certainly don't want to have my Social Security subject to the next time Wall Street fucks up.

So declare investments income and try to tax that at 90%. You won't have a rich person left in this nation inside of 6 months.

What will you do then? Hunt them down and drag them back to pay taxes and force them to earn in this nation?

Well seig heil to you to, sport.

Nice...You wanna drag it down to opposing extremes? How typically Rush Limbaugh of you, sport.

Ok... let's do it. Let's just simply let Big Business keep investing in say... China.... There's over a billion of them to work for them and they have a dirt cheap cost of living... we only have 400M people, an aging population and a high cost of living. So Big Business decides to kill America off and go for the big profits in China... after all, they have a long way to go to even get to our minimum wage, they already have Universal Health Care in place so there's no overhead on providing health care for them, and as their buying power increases, there's a huge market for them to sell their shit to.

Yeah... let's not protect American Jobs, American Workers and the American economy. All Hail the world domination of the Conglomerate and the total destruction of America... Yay Conservatives.

Wow, the stupidity of this is staggering. World domination of the Conglomerate? Your Political Science Prof must have been doing a double espresso when he came up with that rant. It sounds so "ominous".

You know, there used to be a time when businesses WANTED to build in the US. Of course back then they weren't faced with Obama Care's costs, carbon charges from the EPA, law suits from the Justice department for opening factories in non union loving States, Card Check laws, Cap & Trade legislation, freezes to drilling and mining permits by environmentalist "czars" put in charge of the very industries they hate. public sector and private sector unions who will picket at a CEO's residence, and most of all...a President that sees the Private Sector as a giant ATM card with which he can withdraw money to fund his progressive agenda.

Now why WOULD companies not want to open plants here? Gee, what a mystery!!!

 

[MikeK]

We are hearing mainly from brainwashed right-wing water carriers for the emerging corporatocracy. Everything they believe is pumped into their weak minds by the likes of such multi-millionaire propagandists as Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Steve Mahlsberg, et. al. They have no reasoned, original thoughts.

The fact is the U.S. is still a very wealthy nation. The real problem is the bulk of its wealth has been accumulated via various de-regulated processes into the control of a very small segment of the population who are hoarding it, the effect of which has been the machinery of our economy is grinding to a halt.

Our economic problems can be solved by substantially raising the tax level on the multi-millionaire class, by significantly reducing our wasteful and unnecessary patronage of the Military Industrial Complex, and by ending the wholly counterproductive War On Drugs. The revenues produced by just those three efforts can be used to totally restore and rebuild our infrastructure, which will create millions of new jobs and produce many thriving new industries.

All that is needed to move in this direction is to be rid of our Trojan Horse president.

I suggest that Independent Senator Bernie Sanders be drafted in 2012. He will put us on the right track.

 

[Seawytch]

When you run this theory out to it's full extention it collapses.

What is the percentage of people that can be on welfare before it becomes a drain on the economy? 10%? 50%? 100%?

If everyone's on welfare, who's earning to pay for it? Even the Laffer Curve can be applied to this monstrosity of logic and show that at a certain point it becomes unsustainable because there are not enough wage earners to pay for this "Economic benefit".

You can't put everyone on foodstamps, and stimulate the economy. The prices will just adjust. Government does NOT create wealth. It only steals it from one wealthier person to give to another... and not necessarily a less wealthy one as well.

The only... ONLY way to fix this problem is to end every last one of those entitlements.

"The world doesn't owe you anything. It was here first." Mark Twain.

It is the stimulative effects of each that was being studied. We are about to fall into a double dip recession and our economy needs a boost. The study clearly points out which programs ARE and ARE NOT the most stimulative.

For long term economic growth, we need jobs. How we gonna get those back here when we don't make anything?

and we know how well government stimulus has worked. Now we have trickle down misery and powerful growth in the poverty market.

As for job growth? Look at what's impeding jobs in this nation for once. High taxes, unreasonable regulation, poor investment climate due to taxes among other things.

It DID work. It saved us from a Depression (according to most economists anyway)

Judging Stimulus by Job Data Reveals Success

Economists agree: Stimulus created nearly 3 million jobs

and finally...

Blinder and Zandi examined the effect of TARP and the stimulus using Moody’s Analytical Model of the US economy. They reported, “We find the effects on real GDP, jobs and inflation are huge and probably averted what could have been called The Great Depression 2.0.”

“Without the government response, GDP in 2010 would be about 11.5 percent lower, payroll employment would be less by some 8.5 million jobs, and the nation would now be experiencing deflation.”

It is a tragedy, since if we are to have more refusal to face the effects of the stimulus, as now seems likely, life is going to get a lot more miserable for millions.

They attribute the larger part of this wholly benign result to have been from saving the financial system–something begun under President Bush and completed under Obama. Nonetheless, the effects of the fiscal stimulus alone appear very substantial, raising real GDP by about 3.4 percent, holding the unemployment rate about one-and-a-half percentage points lower, and adding almost 2.7 million jobs to U.S. payrolls.​

The Stimulus Worked


High taxes? When are you guys going to start being serious about taxes? We're paying the lowest taxes in years and corporations are paying next to no taxes. That's another canard.