See the continued upward trend after that 'hiccup'

See the continued upward trend after that 'hiccup' in 09"?

Stimulus, tax rebates, continuation of auto-bailouts begun with 'bridge loan' under Bush. That last one is underestimated in its impact. A huge supplier market and aftermarket would have been taken down if any one of the Big three went away.

Quote:

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The Effect of the American Recovery and Investment Act

More commonly referred to as the “Stimulus Package,” the 2009 American Recovery and Investment Act is perhaps the most significant piece of economic legislation that’s been signed into law by Barack Obama.

The bill itself injected $832 billion into the economy through a combination of tax breaks and spending policies. The stimulus is technically being implemented over ten years, but 92% was budgeted for the first three fiscal years.

The question of whether it actually worked is hotly contested. Republicans often assert that the stimulus package didn’t work because the economy contracted by 2.8% in 2009, and the unemployment rate increased from 7.8% in January to 9.9% in December 2009.

This is a simplistic and deceiving talking point though, because it fails to address how fast the economy would have contracted had it not been for the stimulus package. Even with the stimulus package, the CBO estimated that the economy would contract by 3% in 2009. Therefore, one could argue that the stimulus exceeded expectations, because the economy contracted by 2.8%.

In terms of employment, the CBO also estimates that the stimulus lowered the unemployment rate between 0.7 and 1.8 percentage points. Similarly, it also increased employment positions by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million.

It’s relatively clear by the standards of the nonpartisan CBO – the stimulus package succeeded in catalyzing economic growth and employment. However, there is still the question as to whether or not the package was “worth it.” It did increase the deficit, and there is some skepticism in the economic community on the question of whether or not it justifies its cost.

A poll conducted by the Chicago Booth School of Economics concluded that 46% of economists agree that the benefits of the stimulus package outweighed the costs, while 27% said they weren’t sure and 12% were certain that the costs outweighed the benefits.

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