A year ago this february the economy was shrinking at record pace, we were hemorrhaging jobs and the talk was one of possible depression.
Your argument, apparently, is that "the economy is better than it was, therefore the stimulus helped". There is not one shred of evidence to suggest that where the economy is today was improved, in any way, from where it would have been. Which, of course, is the ultimate metric.
Economists -- the same people who broadly "supported" the stimulus, now say it simply DID NOT HELP in getting us to this point.
money.cnn.com
And they're right. And in fact, there is no evidence that a sinking economy can be controlled with stimulus. At best, you can put a few people to work temporarily with it, but not with one structured like this nonsense.
What turned the economy around, more than any other single factor, was the first $350 Billion of TARP money, spent by GWB, and which will yield about an 8% return on the investment in addition to having saved the banks. The 350B spent by Obama was a waste and is essentially money pissed away.
What was Obama supposed to do with the millions of people who lost their jobs, benefits, homes and the millions more with similar prospects? What was Obama supposed to have done? Sit on the sidelines and hope that the mess bush left him solved itself? Talk is cheap.
I believe there are things that might have been done but the important point is that what he did DID NOT HELP. Period. |
