Serious mistake to believe the stimulus failed

[babylonsister]

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20100725_Serious_mistake_to_believe_the_stimulus_failed.html

Serious mistake to believe the stimulus failed

Mark Zandi is chief economist of Moody's Analytics

snip//

Given where the economy is today, were these massive expenses worthwhile?

It's a reasonable question, but the answer is a clear yes.

If government had not reacted as aggressively or as quickly as it did, the financial system would still be unsettled, the economy would still be shrinking, and the cost to U.S. taxpayers would be vastly higher. In sum, the government's unprecedented response stabilized the financial system and ended the recession.

The most criticized part of the policy response was the bank bailouts, led by the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. Congress at first voted to reject the program in October 2008, a decision that fueled the panic that was already roiling financial markets. Under pressure, lawmakers reversed their vote days later - just in time to prevent a catastrophe.

The TARP saved not only the nation's major banks (and their shareholders and creditors), but also the broader economy. If more banks had been allowed to fail, many large U.S. companies would have followed, destroying many millions of jobs in the process.

As things have turned out, taxpayers will end up making money on the TARP. The banks have been quickly repaying the government with interest.

Critics have also objected to the fiscal stimulus as a case of government overreach and ineptitude. They could not be more wrong.

It is no coincidence that the recession ended when it did - about a year ago - just as the stimulus was providing its maximum economic benefit. Emergency unemployment-insurance benefits and tax cuts put cash into Americans' pockets that they have largely spent, supporting sales and employment. And without help from the federal government, state and local governments would have slashed payrolls and raised taxes at just the wrong time. (Even with the stimulus, state and local governments have been cutting, and they will cut much more.)

Stimulus infrastructure spending is now kicking into high gear, and it will be a significant source of jobs through at least this time next year. And business-tax cuts have contributed to more investment and hiring.

Setting the record straight on the stimulus question is important because it will shape the current debate about how government should manage the still-fragile economic recovery. Last week, partly because of the misconception that the stimulus didn't work, Congress was barely able to muster enough votes to pass another extension of emergency unemployment benefits. Not doing so would have been a serious error, putting the recovery in jeopardy.

more...

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20100725_Serious_mistake_to_believe_the_stimulus_failed.html

[NC_Nurse]

1. I saw a post yesterday about a RW argument against extending unemployment

benefits. He said the govt. Should be creating job programs that actually accomplish things - then went on to trash the stimulus...
Isn't that what it did? Built roads, bridges, kept teachers, police and firefighters working? They don't think at all, do they?

I'm so sick of the continual bullshit pushed by these jerks.

[INdemo]

12. It is the same bullshit being spread by the Repukes over the lat 100 years

Nothing has changed.With Republicans latest talking point that Bush's economy saved jobs.And yes there are those that still believe Herbert Hoover brought us out of the depression..And in the 90's it was Reagan's trickle down philosophy that brought us prosperity of that era..Clinton had nothing to do with it.
But the sad thing about this is ..there are those that keep voting for these idiots including so called Democrats

[DCBob]

2. It is a shame so many dismiss the stimulus.. without it we would be in a far worse situation.

maybe it wasnt big enough, maybe it wasnt perfectly targeted, maybe some of it was misspent.. but it helped stop the bleeding and brought stability to this country when it was in near economic collapse.

[alcibiades_mystery]

5. It was a "Stop digging" moment

Indeed, much of Obama's first-year actions were necessarily "Stop Digging" moments. From a point of view of consequences, these are crucial moments. From the point of view of everyday perception, they seem inconsequential, because you're still, so to speak, in the hole.

The one exception is probably Afghanistan, for which the Admin took a "tunnel out sideways" kind of approach. Not sure that will bear any fruit.

You rarely get credit for "Stop Digging." We'll see if we can build a ladder out of here, in any case.

[NJmaverick]

3. K&R

[jaxx]

4. were these massive expenses worthwhile?...

the answer is a clear yes.

I don't think anything needs to be added to that statement.

[treestar]

6. We stayed afloat

:kick:

[FreakinDJ]

7. We didn't get the "Most Bang for the Buck" in the Stimulus

yes it helped, but it was severely deficient in its form

[babylonsister]

8. And no further funds were forthcoming from the rethugs, so

the admin did what they could to shore up the economy-in record time, I might add.

[FreakinDJ]

11. We know the RATpubliCONs would have done nothing

and allowed the country and world for that matter to plummet into a devastating Global Depression so their "Fat-Cat" cronies could have scooped up every thing the middle class owned for pennies on the dollar. As it was they were only allowed to pillage a portion of the Middle Class's wealth, and the Tax coffers for the next decade or 2

But at the same time the "Looming Double Dip" is proof the funds didn't go far enough to "Create" jobs or economic stability. Shoring up Police and Teachers was noble but the infrastructure projects would have generated the income tax to do that with the added benefit for 100s of 1000s of additional jobs and a vehicle to spur the economy for decades.

As it is now we are suffering the ill effects of the temporary patch to the economy now

[babylonsister]

13. I don't know where you're getting the assumption that there

are no ongoing infrastructure projects made possible by the stimulus. There are:

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/110711-biden-to-tout-recovery-summer-at-yellowstone-grand-canyon

Vice President Joe Biden is in Big Sky, Mont., this weekend in preparation for "Recovery Summer" events at national parks early next week.

Biden will visit Yellowstone and Grand Canyon National Parks on Monday and Tuesday. The parks have received $25 million in stimulus funding, and the vice president will tout the participation of more than 1,000 workers in the 17 construction and maintenance projects funded by the Recovery Act cash.

The White House said in a Saturday release that there are 800 stimulus projects under way at national parks this summer, more than eight times as many as last summer.

I will try to find out what else is going on around the country.

[FreakinDJ]

14. only 9% infrastructure - National Parks are NOT infrastructure

it wasn't even enough to maintain the exiting infrastructure (Hi ways, Bridges, Water projects)

A sad commentary of the intelligence of the citizens of this country and our elected officials when they begin confusing "What is Infrastructure"

[babylonsister]

15. This is recent; they're working on it...

and we all agree not enough money was allocated for stimulus, but there are ongoing projects that I won't ignore. It's some progress.




US stimulus shifts to infrastructure spending

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fa481668-8ce4-11df-bad7-00144feab49a.html

[FreakinDJ]

16. thanx

[madmom]

17. I know in my town we have massive infrastructure projects, going on right now, from the stimulus.

[geckosfeet]

9. Taxpayers with no jobs will make money on TARP.

A Pyhrric victory.

[OHdem10]

10. The Democratic Party( Isaid PARTY) need to do a Media

Blitz making the case for the stimulus. They had better
explain Keynesian Theory and why the Milton Friedmam
Theory does not always work. No one has ever made
the case logically . Therefore, the GOP have been
out there selling the idea the Socialist obama is just
pulling tricks out of the hat and ruining the country.

It is going to take more than a speech by Obama.
It has to be TV. This is where most Americans get their
news. No disrespect to NYT and other publications.

How many NYT do you think my local Dairy Farmers Conveience
store puts in their stand???? 2 on Sundays.

You are ever so correct. The Democratic Activists need to
get behind the stimulus as successful and the Dems on the
Hill need to come out guns a blazing.