From a Time Magazine report at the link below:
The general public's opinion of the bill that authorized the government to spend $787 billion to create jobs and end the recession is that it has been a dud. According to a recent CNN poll, nearly three-quarters of Americans think that at least half the money spent has been wasted.
The Time report says the government can specifically point to 600,000 jobs. However, nearly 600,000 jobs (598,000 to be exact) were lost just last January meaning the 600,000 jobs created was only part of the story.
Also, part of the 600,000 jobs included in White House reports are 200,000 temporary census workers - jobs that will be lost shortly after the end of this month.
As was done during the Bush administration, the Obama administration releases just enough information to make them look good.
What makes the bill's success hard to judge is that it was oversold.
Before the stimulus was passed, a report from Obama's economic advisers predicted that the bill would ensure that the unemployment rate would remain at 8% or below. By that estimate, the bill looks like a failure. A few months ago, the unemployment rate hit 10%; currently it is 9.7%.
More here.
A picture of my cave
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