I disagree. The rates at which these indicators are currently improving is insufficient to improve the overall economic environment. Jobs are up from a low that we were told wasn't going to happen if the stimulus passed. Rationalizing it by saying that "things were worse than we thought" just shows the lack of accuracy in the analysis. The stimulus didn't work as planned and I don't think it helped.
Just about every economist on the planet agrees that the short-term impact of the stimulus is positive - it created jobs, it pumped capital into projects, it sustained school budgets etc...and as it turns out, every broad measure of the economy has improved since its passage: GDP is up, monthly jobs have gone from -750k to positive 240K, consumer spending is up, durable goods orders are up, manufacturing has increased, exports and imports have both increased, the financial sector is more stable...
I didn't mean that you couldn't cost out each job - I meant that the overall benefit can't be measured simply in the cost of each job. The money didn't just go to jobs and at any rate it has a multiplier effect as it is spread throughout the economy.
The tax cuts and incentives in the act are valued at $288 billion dollars.
No, it's not spin. It's what McCain's economist, Obama's economist and a wide majority of all other economists are saying.
National income is growing, even when adjusted for inflation.
I'm saying the stimulus played a part in fostering recovery. I never claimed the stimulus was the only agent at play here.
But it did pour billions of dollars into maintaining employment for teachers and municipal officials, it provided targeted tax cuts that put money in the hands of those likely to spend it and it created hiring opportunities for private firms in a wide array of industries.
1.8% annualized last quarter.
2.9% in the year 2010.
The law fostered economic activity.
Specifically how? Why the need to add $1 Trillion to the debt?
It fostered economic activity by putting capital behind projects, by keeping people employed and by putting money in the hands of those likely to spend it.