Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Well they have spent some. And it is working. The GDP was up for the first time in 2 years, and we didn't fall into a depression. Since a majority of the money is set to be spent in 2010 its not really possible to judge the total effect stimulus until the end of next year.
If you want to make a argument that if the government should have pushed more of the funds in 2009 we would have more jobs right now then sure, that's a valid argument, but this thread was made to prove the stimulus failed and that's not something we can say just yet.
When the stimulus was passed they stated is was urgent that we push this massive amount of money into the economy to save it. No other options, point blank. It's either this or the end of life as we know it in America. They had to get that money into the economy has quickly as possible.
Now most of the money won't even be spent until the months leading up until the election.
Perhaps if we could know how much of the stimulus money was actually earmarked for "shovel ready" projects, when the bill was written, we could assess its value. Then again, projects usually have a beginning and an end, and aren't actually intended as long term jobs.
When you start threads like this, you reveal a profound lack of knowledge about what the stimulus was intended to do.
Nobody ever said it would, single handedly, reduce the unemployment rate. That would be impossible. What Obama claimed - quite clearly - was that it would reduce the number of jobs lost.
So, if the private sector shed 600,000 jobs in a quarter, it might only shed 400,000 with the stimulus.
That happened - which is why EVERY major country instituted a stimulus. For better or worse, the job of government is to moderate and keep a stable nation as the market does what it will - keep the lows from going to low and the highs from going to high.
It really is the perfect scam.
The only tangible of the stimulus is the "money spent", everything else(i.e. jobs created/saved) is a guess, hypothesis, estimation etc.
In other words, all figures that can be manipulated to show a desired outcome.
This has already been proven to be the case.
So the stimulus plan was designed to limit the number of jobs lost? How does one measure that?
Why not a more ambitious plan to create jobs? (If indeed, this measure was only meant to stop job loss?)
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
