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August 07, 2009 07:20 PM UTC

How's That Stimulus Working Out?

  • 9 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

An issue near and dear to the hearts of every Colorado Democrat (not to the mention the Republicans looking to take them out next year), the New York Times reports:

Even as the Obama administration braces for another grim report about job losses on Friday, economists say that the president’s $787 billion stimulus package has helped blunt the downturn in limited but discernible ways.

A report card on the stimulus plan offered by analysts nearly six months after it was passed by Congress suggests that the punch from increased government spending has helped the economy begin to bottom out faster than it would have otherwise. The tax cuts included in the plan, economists said, have had less of an impact because people tended to save the money or use it to pay down debt rather than spend it.

The effectiveness of the stimulus package has emerged as one of the most pressing concerns facing the White House…

White House officials estimate that the stimulus program pumped about $100 billion into the economy through June. That was only a small share of the total projected spending, and much of the first wave came in the form of tax cuts, tax rebates and higher spending on safety-net programs like unemployment benefits and health care.

Private analysts say they think it added at least 1 percentage point to economic growth in the second quarter. That was not enough to prevent the economy from shrinking and joblessness from rising, but the pace of the decline slowed substantially compared with the first quarter.

“The signs of the stimulus are there,” said Allen L. Sinai, chief economist at Decision Economics, a forecasting firm in New York. “Government – federal, state and local – is helping take the economy from recession to recovery. I think it’s the primary contributor.”

But even supporters of the stimulus program say its contribution to a recovery so far has been smaller than White House officials had estimated…but direct government spending on infrastructure projects and other programs that create jobs immediately is only beginning to get under way. Much of the money so far has gone to people in the form of tax cuts and tax rebates, and consumers have tended to save that money rather than spend it.

Oh sorry, we got distracted by all these swastikas and didn’t finish reading. A disaster, right?

Wait, you mean the only part that isn’t working is the tax cuts?

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9 thoughts on “How’s That Stimulus Working Out?”

  1. is more tax cuts.

    “Those last tax cuts didn’t work because they weren’t big enough.  Everything will be solved with more tax cuts”.

  2. The Cash For Clunkers program is a drop in the bucket money-wise, but it’s been a boon to the car industry.

    Construction projects are still picking up, and some of the other stimulus programs have finally picked their beneficiaries and should be doling out money this month…

    1. Found here or on iTunes:

      http://www.kcrw.com/news/progr…

      Of the collection of pundits and reporters on the show, they all said that this program doesn’t work. But the owner of an Auto Dealer chain and the Spokesman for AutoNation said quite the opposite – they praised this program up down and sideways, and said Congress should do it again in October when new models come out.

      It’s amazing that on some issues, we trust the morons paid to talk on a subject on what works, and ignore the people DOING IT for a living.  

      1. NPR’s evening news had a report on it that said it was working quite well.  It noted that the AVERAGE fuel economy increase was over 10MPG and that people were streaming in the doors of dealers.  One commentator pointed out that they worried the influx of clunkers now might mean a slump in sales once the program was done, but then pointed out that we need the sales now, not later…

        The main problems with it right now are: not enough inventory to satisfy demand, not enough engine killing gunk, and lots filled with dead clunkers waiting to go to the scrap yards for recycling.

    1. over a sustained period of time. And by the same measure, once you start to see real effect, you may have done too much.

      I think a year from now we may be doing quite well. And if we are, then the Republicans can kiss any improvements in November goodbye.

  4. than expected.  Market perking up. Not that it’s time to pop any champaign corks but it’s always fun to watch while GOP spins market up as well as market down, bad.  As long as there is a Dem in the White House and Dem majorities in congress, you name it; cars for clunkers, jobs for police and firefighters saved, market going up down or sideways,journalists home from North Korea… it’s all bad.  That shoud be their new motto:”Be scared – It’s all bad”    

    2. but it would be the same if McCain were Pres and did even one thing right. Par for the course. That said, the 2009 GOP seems particularly lame given that this is all about the economy and business and, apart from protecting the nation from gays and contraception and pot, that’s supposed to be a GOP strong suit– at least as a selling point. Given that, the GOP criticisms and counter proposals are even more laughable than the obvious political swiping. I mean, I think that to see any signs of measurable stimulus-based uptick in the U.S. economy amid the global financial mess in the mere seven months since Obama took office is a big deal. The administration has managed somehow to enact major innovative programs already. Cash for Clunkers: it seems basic but imagine Bush trying to get something equivalent passed. Just never. That alone is impressive.  

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