Stimulus Worked, Could Have Been Better.
October 6th, 2010
Fifty jobs in Delaware, not a whole lot of stimulus, but it is better than nothing. It does seem though that based on most reports that the stimulus has saved between 1.8 million and 3.6 million jobs. Many of these are in the public sector. More could have been done boosting the budgets of states facing looming deficits who in cutting back on state spending have undone some of the benefits of the federal stimulus. Below are some reports on the stimulus, the facts regarding its effectiveness and a call for more stimulus.
This is from the AFL-CIO site.
"Stimulus Money Creates Jobs, Rebuilds Rail Cars
by Mike Hall, Oct 5, 2010
In Delaware, 50 union workers, including 20 Electrical Workers (IBEW) members, are at work and paying their bills and mortgages, thanks to economic recovery money that is also saving Amtrak millions of dollars in new equipment.
Those jobs are part of as many as 3.3 million jobs that President Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act saved or created since it was signed into law in February 2009. In the three months prior to passage of the legislation, the nation had lost 2.2 million jobs—more than 8 million jobs disappeared during the Bush administration.
The Delaware workers are converting old and abandoned dining cars into money making Amtrak passenger cars. IBEW member Tom Rapposelli, standing in one of the cars being refurbished, says in this IBEW video:
"This car would have probably been totaled and left outside to rot. And with that stimulus money we were able to put it back together with new people being hired."
For Amtrak, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funded project has dramatically cut costs for new cars. Fixing up one of the old cars cost just one-third of buying a new one."
According to a CBO report on CNS News:
"The CBO analysis… saying that the unemployment rate is between 0.7 percent to 1.8 percent lower than it would have been had the bill not been passed. Meanwhile, the CBO projected the stimulus "increased the number of people employed by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million," not far from the administration's claim that the stimulus "saved or created" 3 million jobs.
The CBO found 749,142 full-time jobs were funded by stimulus dollars in the second quarter of 2010. This data was based on recipient reports to the government. But the CBO said these recipient reports, "do not provide a comprehensive estimate of the law's impact on U.S. employment, which could be higher or lower than the number of FTE [full-time equivalent] jobs reported.""
For more from the Report
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/71659
From the Huffington Post:
"Job Stimulus Report: White House Claims More Jobs `Saved Or Created'
| 07/14/10 09:33 PM | AP
WASHINGTON — The White House asserted Wednesday that the $862 billion stimulus law has been even better for the economically-struggling country than previously advertised.
Updating its estimate of the impact the controversial new law has had, the White House now projects that the vast spending act has created or saved between 2.5 million and 3.6 million jobs.
That's up from the estimate of 2.2 million to 2.8 million jobs that was released in the first quarter of the year from the White House Council of Economic Advisers. The new estimate says the act is on track, if it hasn't already reached, the promise that the stimulus act would save or create 3.5 million jobs by the end of 2010.
A growing body of independent economic analysis suggests the law has boosted jobs and kept people off the unemployment line. Yet exactly how many jobs is a matter of dispute, particularly at a time when the national jobless rate continues to hover perilously close to 10 percent.
Much of the stimulus money went to programs – like tax breaks, Medicaid and unemployment insurance – that don't lend themselves to easy head counts.
The White House analysis estimates that every $1 spent as part of the stimulus bill is matched by $3 in private money."
From Media Matters
"Stimulus funds credited for creating or saving numerous public sector jobs
CEA: COPS stimulus grants "will keep an additional 4,699 police officers on the streets." In its July 14 quarterly report on the stimulus' economic impact, the Council of Economic Advisors stated:
The Department of Justice's Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) received $1 billion to pay up to 3 years of full salary and benefits for newly hired law enforcement officers or to rehire officers who had been laid off due to budget cuts. The program received more than 7,000 applications from local law enforcement agencies within two months of the Recovery Act's passage, and made 1,046 awards that will keep an additional 4,699 police officers on the streets. The Office of Justice Programs will allocate another $2 billion to support state and local law enforcement agencies in high crime areas.
Center on Education Policy report: "[N]early two-thirds of all school districts have used the federal stimulus money…to save or create teaching jobs in the 2009-10 school year." A July 15 report by the Center on Education Policy, titled, "School Districts' Perspectives on the Economic Stimulus Package: Teaching Jobs Saved in 2009-10 But Teacher Layoffs Loom for Next School Year" found:
While nearly two-thirds of all school districts have used the federal stimulus money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to save or create teaching jobs in the 2009-10 school year, as many as three quarters of the nation's school districts expect to cut teaching jobs in 2010-11 due to budget decreases, according to a new survey of districts released today by the Center on Education Policy (CEP).
Independent analysts agree stimulus significantly raised employment over what would have happened otherwise
CEA: Recovery Act "has raised employment relative to what it otherwise would have been by between 2.5 and 3.6 million." The CEA report estimated that as of the second quarter of 2010, the Recovery Act, "has raised employment relative to what it otherwise would have been by between 2.5 and 3.6 million." CEA also included a chart of private and independent analysts' estimates of the Recovery Act's impact on employment:
CBO estimates job impact of between 1.4 and 3.4 million. According to the CEA chart, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the Recovery Act raised employment by 1.4 to 3.4 million as of the second quarter of 2010.
IHS/Global Insight estimates job impact of 2.1 million. According to the CEA chart, IHS/Global Insight estimates that the Recovery Act raised employment by 2.1 million as of the second quarter of 2010.
Moody's Economy.com estimates job impact of 2.2 million. The CEA chart shows that Mark Zandi of Moody's Economy.com estimates that the Recovery Act raised employment by 2.2 million as of the second quarter of 2010.
Macroeconomic Advisers estimates job impact of 1.8 million. The CEA chart noted that Macroeconomic Advisers estimates that the Recovery Act raised employment by 1.8 million as of the second quarter of 2010."
For more of this article
http://mediamatters.org/research/201007160024
From the Bog site Crooks & Liars
"Joseph Stiglitz: The Stimulus `Absolutely' Worked, Wants Second Round
By Susie Madrak
October 02, 2010 09:00 AM
NEW YORK — Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz called for another round of federal stimulus dollars to spur the economy. He spoke Sept. 30 to the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW) at its Fall Workshop.
"We will see in the next two years the real cost of there not being a second round of stimulus," he said. "We will see the economy slow down at a very high economic cost."
The Columbia University professor also said that the "new normal" as far as the unemployment rate is concerned may not be the 4 to 5 percent that existed before the financial crisis in 2008, but more like 7 to 8 percent.
Unemployment is about 9.5 to 9.6 percent officially, he said, but many people who are working part-time involuntarily or who have stopped looking but want work are not counted in the official rate.
He said one reason that stimulus has not had more effect is that state and local governments have cut spending, undoing about one-half of the impact of the money that the feds have injected.
He said the stimulus also could have had more effect if more money had been put into making up for the shortfalls of state budgets, stopping layoffs; if less had been put into tax cuts that wary consumers just ended up saving; and if safeguards to prevent waste had not slowed the money from being spent.
Still, he said, "The stimulus absolutely worked." Without it, unemployment could have peaked at more than 12 percent."
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