The constant noise from the reich wing about Obama's "failures" is deafening. But look right here, a fact, Obama's plan for stiumlating job growth has worked.
Just look at the outside evaluations of the stimulus. Perhaps the best-known economic research firms are IHS Global Insight, Macroeconomic Advisers and Moody’s Economy.com. They all estimate that the bill has added 1.6 million to 1.8 million jobs so far and that its ultimate impact will be roughly 2.5 million jobs. The Congressional Budget Office, an independent agency, considers these estimates to be conservative...
Around the world over the last century, the typical financial crisis caused the jobless rate to rise for almost five years, according to work by the economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff. On that timeline, our rate would still be rising in early 2012. Even that may be optimistic, given that the recent crisis was so bad. As Ben Bernanke, Henry Paulson (Republicans both) and many others warned in 2008, this recession had the potential to become a depression.
Yet the jobless rate is now expected to begin falling consistently by the end of this year.
For that, the stimulus package, flaws and all, deserves a big heaping of credit. “It prevented things from getting much worse than they otherwise would have been,” Nariman Behravesh, Global Insight’s chief economist, says. “I think everyone would have to acknowledge that’s a good thing.”
So let's recap. Obama's quick thinking with his stimulus package stopped the bleeding of jobs. Typically an economic tsunami such as we just experienced would mean a steady uptick in loss of jobs, but not so with Obama at the helm. Is there any doubt what would have happened if McCain and Mooselini were in the White House? Mooselini probably would read her "everything is great and we're a strong people, and we're fighting terrorism!" speech from her hand, while winking at the camera, while McCain scowled and cursed under his breath.
The stimulus plan isn't perfect. It is in need of more oversight to prevent some local governments from misusing or unnecessarily tying up funds in red political tape. But overall, it is accomplishing the main goal, getting people back to work.
Now Obama needs to keep moving forward with his next big task....healthcare for all. With unemployment still high, more and more people find themselves without healthcare. This needs to be resolved. The job stimulus plan and a healthcare overhaul would be the one, two, punch that would bring our economy back from the brink. What else restores consumer confidence and brings on the buying sprees than when families feel that they have a steady paycheck and healthcare available on demand?
