No, not really, sorry folks. But some people certainly believe it did, or want us to believe it did work. Here is a email from our vice president.
Good Morning,
A year ago, President Obama signed the Recovery Act, a bold initiative not only to rescue our country from a potential second Great Depression but also to build a new economic foundation for the future of our Nation. At that time, we were in an economic freefall -- hemorrhaging more than 700,000 jobs a month with the middle class under assault and financial institutions on the brink of collapse.
One year later, I’ve prepared a report for the President on the impact of the Recovery Act. Even though we have much more to do, the evidence is clear: the Recovery Act is working.
Before I give you the hard facts, take a look at this video featuring several Mayors -- officials on the front lines of this economic crisis -- who discuss the impact of the Recovery Act.
Now here are some facts from the report I hope you’ll share far and wide:
1. 2 Million Jobs: Public and private forecasters ranging from the Council of Economic Advisors to Moody’s Economy and IHS Global now say the Recovery Act is responsible for about 2 million jobs nationwide.
2. Economic Growth: We recently learned that our economy grew 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter -- the biggest gain in six years that many economists say is largely due to the Recovery Act.
3. Tax Relief: The Recovery Act provided over $100 billion in tax relief for American businesses and families.
4. Aid to Small Businesses: This past year, the Recovery Act supplied over 42,000 small business loans that provided nearly $20 billion in much-needed capital.
5. Building a New Foundation: The Recovery Act funded tens of thousands of projects nationwide this year that are not only creating jobs right now, but also laying a long-term foundation for economic growth, including investments in high-speed rail, health technology, broadband, a smarter electrical grid, clean cars and batteries, and renewable energy.
My entire report to the President is available on WhiteHouse.gov/Recovery, and it details specific recovery projects across America. So take a look at what’s happening in your part of the country:
While we’ve made tremendous progress, our work is far from finished. Many projects are just now getting underway that will be creating jobs throughout 2010 and beyond. And on behalf of the President, I can say our Administration will not stop until every man or woman who wants a job can find one.
But one year in, the Recovery Act has helped pull us back from the brink of economic disaster and is helping lay a firm foundation for our economic recovery.
Thank you,
Joe Biden
Vice President
P.S. Take a moment to check out the video, browse through the report and share it with your friends and neighbors.
Let's look at the unemployment rate.
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Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual
2000 5708 5858 5733 5481 5758 5651 5747 5853 5625 5534 5639 5634
2001 6023 6089 6141 6271 6226 6484 6583 7042 7142 7694 8003 8258
2002 8182 8215 8304 8599 8399 8393 8390 8304 8251 8307 8520 8640
2003 8520 8618 8588 8842 8957 9266 9011 8896 8921 8732 8576 8317
2004 8370 8167 8491 8170 8212 8286 8136 7990 7927 8061 7932 7934
2005 7784 7980 7737 7672 7651 7524 7406 7345 7553 7453 7566 7279
2006 7059 7185 7075 7122 6977 6998 7154 7097 6853 6728 6883 6784
2007 7085 6898 6725 6845 6765 6966 7113 7096 7200 7273 7284 7696
2008 7628 7435 7793 7631 8397 8560 8895 9509 9569 10172 10617 11400
2009 11919 12714 13310 13816 14518 14721 14534 14993 15159 15612 15340 15267
2010 14837
The unemployment rate did dip in January of 2010, but before that, the unemployment rate just kept on rising. "In January, the number of unemployed persons decreased to 14.8 million, and the unemployment rate fell by 0.3 percentage point to 9.7 percent."(U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics) A year later and two stimulus plans, shouldn't the unemployment rate be lower, well maybe but I didn't think they would work in the first place. And I would like to know where the 2 million jobs are that Vice President Biden and the public and private forecasters say the stimulus plans are responsible for.
Now onto the second thing the vice president said. "We recently learned that our economy grew 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter -- the biggest gain in six years that many economists say is largely due to the Recovery Act." I can't argue with this, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis(BEA), the Gross Domestic Product(GDP) did increase 5.7 percent in the 4th quarter. For anyone who doesn't know, the Gross Domestic Product is, "the output of goods and services produced by labor and property
located in the United States." However according to the BEA,"The increase in real GDP in the fourth quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from private inventory investment, exports, and personal consumption expenditures." So the GDP did not increase in the 4th quarter because of the government or the stimulus plans. "The acceleration in real GDP in the fourth quarter primarily reflected an acceleration in private inventory investment, a deceleration in imports, and an upturn in nonresidential fixed investment that were partly offset by decelerations in federal government spending and in PCE."(Bureau of Economic Analysis)
Now three and four I don't necessarily have a problem with, I've thought all along that if we have to bail people out, it should be the American people and small businesses. The question to ask is, how many small businesses and families have seen this money yet?
As for the last part of the vice president's email, I have to agree, the Recovery Act is building a new future, but a future I don't necessarily want to see. Is this setting the stage for more government control? :( I hope not. Is this teaching people and businesses they don't have to be fiscally responsible because the government will bail them out? Probably so.
Here are some pieces from a news article with quotes from the President.
"You can argue, rightly, that we haven't made as much progress as we need to make when it comes to spurring job creation. That's part of the reason why the Recovery Act is on track to save or create another 1.5 million jobs in 2010. That's part of the reason why I expect Congress to pass additional measures as quickly as possible that will help our small-business owners create new jobs, give them more of an incentive to hire."
So does that means that the government is going to try to pass more laws and stuff, which means more government control and more money being given out that we don't even have. Seriously I hope China and other people who gave us loans don't expect teh money anytime soon.
Marking the anniversary of signing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law, President Obama said one year later, largely thanks to the legislation, "a second Depression is no longer a possibility," and that it has "rescued this economy from the worst of this crisis."
I don't think we are safe yet, I hate to be the bearer of bad news and I hope and pray I am wrong, but things always have to get worse before they get better. I don't think we have seen the worst of this yet. And neither do other people. Howard Davidowitz of Davidowitz & Associates says that the worst is yet to come.
Admitting that the legislation has been controversial the president acknowledged that to the millions of Americans struggling that it might not feel like much of a recovery when they are still out of work, and took on the skeptics who say the Recovery Act has not saved enough jobs.
"Part of that is because there are those, let's face it, across the aisle who have tried to score political points by attacking what we did, even as many of them show up at ribbon-cutting ceremonies for projects in their districts," Obama said, "part of the controversy also is, is that, despite the extraordinary work that has been done through the Recovery Act, millions of Americans are still without jobs. Millions more are struggling to make ends meet. So it doesn't yet feel like much of a recovery. And I understand that."
This doesn't sound like a comment from a man who was going to work with the other side, might want to start with not attacking them. And who was attacking who? So the republicans are not allowed to not agree with the stimulus plans, they aren't allowed to disagree and tell their opinions? And even if they were attacking what the democrats did, that doesn't make a stimulus plan not work, it might make people like it less, but it wouldn't make the stimulus not work.
Mr. Obama said that the Recovery Act was never intended to save every job or restore the economy to its full strength.
"No bill or government program can do that. Businesses are the true engines of growth. Businesses are the engines of job creation in this country. They always will be."
Well I'm glad that me and the president agrees on the fact that no bill or government program( I would go as far as to say no government) can restore teh economy or create jobs. So why are we spending billions of dollars to try? And I certainly remember being given the impression that the presidents stimulus plans were going to save us all. Maybe not in so many words, that was probally never actually stated, which now gives them a back door to escape out of when this plan doesn't work.
If the president and people in Congress think that Americans need to be more fiscally responsible, maybe they should start with them. "Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."- Leo Tolstoy Maybe the government should start being fiscally responsible and the rest of the country would catch on. Doesn't that seem a little hypocritical? The president also made a comment about how young people growing up in this country don't value hard work. Gee I wonder why? Could it have something to do with they way the government gives otu money hand over foot to so many people? How the government bails out people? Why does someone neeed to work hard, just get it all from the government.
Sources
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics- http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf
Bureau of Economic Analysis- http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/national/gdp/gdpnewsrelease.htm
Worst is Yet to Come- http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/176478/%22Worst-Is-Yet-to-Come%22-Americans'-Standard-of-Living-Permanently-Changed?tickers=WMT,WFMI,FDO,%5EGSPC,%5EDJI,RTH
Davidowitz & Associates- http://davidowitzassociates.com/
News Article/ Quotes from President Obama- http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/02/obama-marks-first-year-progress-of-recovery-act-admits-many-dont-feel-much-of-a-recovery-yet.html
Leo Tolstoy Quote- http://www.heartquotes.net/Change.html
