Republicans Eric Cantor, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner and the entire Fox Nation have been screaming at the tops of their lungs that the Stimulus bill passed a year ago "can't work", "isn't working", "won't work", "didn't work", etc., etc., even before the plan was put into effect. Unfortunately for them, after only a year, reality is just a little bit different from the hysterics coming from these sources as well as Rush Limbaugh, Chairman of the GOP.
Recent reports by IHS Global Insight, Macroeconomic Advisers and Moody's tell a different story. First, job losses have plummeted since the Stimulus bill was passed, dropping to 20,000 from peak losses under Bush of almost 800,000 in January 2009. Here's a good graphic summary of job losses under Bush versus the first year of the Obama administration (Bush is red, Obama is blue):
As you can see, even though naysayers continue to denigrate the stimulus plan, something is obviously working. All of the above mentioned economists agree on one thing, though...the stimulus plan saved between 1.6 and 2 million jobs during 2009.
Other measures confirm the effectiveness of the plan: Quarterly growth of GDP, housing starts, and, of course, the recovery of the stock markets and credit markets. Again, Repubs assert that these gains would have been accomplished if Obama had done nothing. Economists disagree. Nariman Behravesh, Global Insight's chief economist said, "It (the stimulus bill) prevented things from getting much worse than they otherwise would have been. I think everyone would have to acknowledge that's a good thing."
The right wing won't let the numbers get in the way of a good story, however. Their narrative has been so effective that in a New York Times/CBS poll only only 6% of Americans believe the stimulus worked. Since the numbers clearly show just the opposite, we are driven to the conclusion that the dis-information campaign is so effective that it has completely masked the truth, convincing millions of Americans that false assertions are actually true.
Such is the state of discourse in our nation today.
Recent reports by IHS Global Insight, Macroeconomic Advisers and Moody's tell a different story. First, job losses have plummeted since the Stimulus bill was passed, dropping to 20,000 from peak losses under Bush of almost 800,000 in January 2009. Here's a good graphic summary of job losses under Bush versus the first year of the Obama administration (Bush is red, Obama is blue):
As you can see, even though naysayers continue to denigrate the stimulus plan, something is obviously working. All of the above mentioned economists agree on one thing, though...the stimulus plan saved between 1.6 and 2 million jobs during 2009. Other measures confirm the effectiveness of the plan: Quarterly growth of GDP, housing starts, and, of course, the recovery of the stock markets and credit markets. Again, Repubs assert that these gains would have been accomplished if Obama had done nothing. Economists disagree. Nariman Behravesh, Global Insight's chief economist said, "It (the stimulus bill) prevented things from getting much worse than they otherwise would have been. I think everyone would have to acknowledge that's a good thing."
The right wing won't let the numbers get in the way of a good story, however. Their narrative has been so effective that in a New York Times/CBS poll only only 6% of Americans believe the stimulus worked. Since the numbers clearly show just the opposite, we are driven to the conclusion that the dis-information campaign is so effective that it has completely masked the truth, convincing millions of Americans that false assertions are actually true.
Such is the state of discourse in our nation today.
Paul Krugman's column in today's Chronicle is SPOT ON.
The morass we find ourselves in with today's economic MESS is a direct result of 30 years of GOP mis-management, from GOP de-regulation and Ronnie Reagan's "trickle-down" Reaganomics.
A DIRECT RESULT.
And the GOP not only refuses to admit they had ANYTHING to do with this (when it can be directly attributed to their bullshit), they have NO IDEAS on how to repair the damage.
Except call for more tax cuts.
Paul's column today was perfect and so was Leonard Pitts in which he decries the total waste of minds and intellect....where, even when presented with FACTS, the rightwing whackjobs refuse to believe them. You can show themm proof and they will not accept anything that does not fall into their proscribed beliefs. (I was married to a jerk like that!)
Mike Judge must be a visionary. We are seeing "Idiocracy" in action.
I have been baffled by the high speed trains for years. They have them in Great Britain. They have them in Europe. They have them in China.
Why the fuck do we not have them HERE????
(Excuse the language, folks. You may see or hear me swear more than usual for a while. 2010 sucks and I seriously want a do-over.)
I agree Alienhunter and Shortstuff. Many people here in Texas will tell you unions "priced themselves out of a job" yet cannot explain why, when those out-priced union jobs making say a $35 shirt went to China where they are now making a $50 shirt, who is getting the "savings" on the cheap labor? Certainly not the consumer, nor the out of work worker, nor the now part-time workers whose industries supplied the now out sourced work.
Any one noticed the price of cotton sheets lately? When I was growing up, the "cheap stuff" was 350 thread count. My grandmother liked "boilable" sheets - 1000 thread count. This country produced LOTS of cotton - so much that we even exported it. Yet, now, very little is produced and only VERY EXPENSIVE items are made with good quality cotton.
Linoleum was a product found in almost every home - from the expensive to the poor. A great flooring that the color went all the way through, is green, doesn't hardly burn but when it does doesn't make toxic fumes. The US was the largest producer of the world. We make NONE now. If you want linoleum now, you must order from EUROPE. I've been told those factories are still standing - empty for thirty years. I wish someone would put them back in production.
China is putting in 42 high speed rails in the next 2 years that will connect cross country. We are going to "try" to put in ONE line, in the next 4 years that will connect 2 cities in Florida! We are in great need of public transportation, jobs, health care, etc. Yet, we can afford TWO wars with countries that have to travel to this country to use OUR planes to bomb us.
Reagan's RUST BELT destroyed this county - the crooks have been plundering it ever since.
You make an interesting point. During the early Reagonomics years a good friend of mine was a member of a railroad union and indeed ended up blaming the unions for his layoff. There are very counter-intuitive economic forces at work there. You're right, but it just isn't obvious to the uninitiated. The decline of unions has been most dramatic in the United States of all the western world and, of course, economic stratification is most extreme here, as well.
I'm impressed by ANYONE that has Rhodes Scholar after their name. I acknowledge my barely contained mysogyny renders me flippant AND forgetful sometimes. If it matters to you, woman! :O)
I've always said you can't repair economies with Reaganomics...that "trickle down" idiocy.
You must start with the FOUNDATION. Just like when you are building a building. You don't start at the rooftop. You start at the bottom.
But the GOP has been very successful at brainwashing people....and killing the middle class at the same time. My hometown has been decimated by G.M. And yet there are still people who blame the UAW for it. Hell, it was the UAW that provided good jobs for thousands of people for many, many years. GM decided to pull the factories and ship the jobs overseas. The entire city pretty much went to hell.
And many of those very same people continue to vote Republican.
*shakes head in bafflement*
Oh Carguy. Tell me more! How do you determine whether or not the sex is "overdone"? By the number of girlfriends? or if it was the foot tapping airport episode? or the number of hours the sex lasted? Must the politician be with someone else or does sex while alone count? I think there may be some interesting discussions on the rules for that! Which, come to think of it, would the Senate has separate rules?
I'm a flaming Liberal. I believe that if I pay taxes I should get damn good "bang for my buck" and no, I'm not talking about sex. The Danes pay about 52% in taxes. However, Danes CONSISTENTLY rate their satisfaction with their governance higher than any other country. Why? Well, for that 52% - they get guaranteed retirement pensions, health care for every person, day care for all children, free vocational, trade and university education, disability income, minimum 1 year PAID maternity leave - mother AND father, MINIMUM 4 week PAID vacation time.
"Conservatives" have spent the past 30 years telling us that the poor have nothing because they are shiftless and lazy good-for-nothings and that the middle class which grew BEFORE "conservatism" and has since been almost totally wiped out under conservative rule - is now almost non-existent, but, according to repubs - it is because of "living beyond their means" and "poor financial decisions"....
Economies bubble UP - give poor people money - YES WELFARE - and they spend every dime of it - and the MIDDLE CLASS gets those dimes by creating services and goods for those dimes to purchase, which makes the middle class grow and SOME become rich (the old fashioned LIBERAL way - WITHOUT STEALING it off the backs of the poor and middle class)!
RACHEL Maddow is her name and, I've noticed that "conservatives" don't like to acknowledge they know her name. Why? I would like any person to name ANY FACT that she has gotten wrong that she has not acknowledged and corrected. I also would like to mention that PROPAGANDA, in the form of factual information that is substantiated (as all of Rachel Maddow's is), spread to warn people and to possibly DETER dishonesty and corruption is a really good thing and much needed. Especially here in Texas. We've got some really ignorant people here.
now that's funny, who made that stupid decision anyway...
*smooches*, carguy!
But I am wondering about that "almost". :-)
And alienHunter. I agree with Shortstuff almost ALL the time.
Facts? The GOP don't need no facts. Especially if facts interfere with their preferred version of reality.
What color IS their planet, anyway?
Gotta love it. If they didn't have hypocrisy, they'd have no values at all.
One more thing. I think they should have put Ken Lay in prison ANYWAY.
Dude, when they made me, they broke the mold. I may be on this "liberal" blog, but I support state's rights, much smaller federal govt, our money for OUR problems. I think if everybody carried a handgun we'd be safer. (I don't mean concealed, I mean ON YOUR HIP). Although we need some government health insurance, the government should stay out of our business. Pay the army, deliver the mail, inspect the meat, and control corporate greed.
Legislators that get caught lyin' or cheatin' or stalin' should be hanged. A little sex "on the side" is OK as long as you don't overdo it.
Say no more Offshore. I didn't mean to say that distrust of our government is a conservative point, but it could be said that all conservatives mistrust the government as a general rule whereas liberals may or may not. It might be safer to say that liberals mistrust certain individuals within the government and not necessarily all of it.
LOL. No, not Canada, but I've heard it said that my city wasn't really in Texas becasue it is only connected by bridges.
You went to school in Canada?
I’m not quite sure that’s a fair statement, Scott. One doesn’t have to be “conservative” in order to doubt politicians in general.
No argument from me about the success of the stimulus, but I knew that before I read this entry. I just wish some people would get over the sour grapes about President Obama being elected or whatever else they may be bitter about. Having two sides of the isle is great; it promotes critical thinking, but for the love of Christ does anyone else wish that our elected representatives would remember that they are all working to make our country better, not to mention that they work for the same people?
But, what the hell do I know? I went to a high school where “Ahh” somehow ended up rhyming with “High”. Scott, I think you might know the one.
Carguy,
Now I know why you seem to waver from left-to-middle, middle-to-left. You aren't brainwashed enought, yet!
Only Jon Stewart...man, where have you been? Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, whats-her-name Maddow. It's a respectable corps of propaganda spinners. And, of course, they only speak the truth! I'm sure there are at least a few more.
I, for one, would like Obama to do MORE of what he did in the SOTU. SOMEBODY has to expose these LIARS for what they are. And I don't mean in a subtle way. EVERY TIME they lie they need to called on it. Publicly. If Obama doesn't want to do it. Let the DNC appoint a "watchdog" and a spokesman to DAILY report on their LIES and HALF-TRUTHS. Hell, Bush/GOP had Cheney. Let Biden go out and throw a few punches. He ain't doin' nbothin.
THEY (GOP et al) have dozens of warriors on TV and the radion and in print espousing their falsehoods. WE have John Stewart. We need to level the playing field.
It's kind of easy to convince conservatives of these "facts." They already believe politicians are inherently dishonest and so they therefore believe in any government intervention is bad and will fail. To throw out a technical sounding term, telling them the stimulus has failed fits their schema. Little arm twisting is required.
Maybe it's time to expose the leaders of the GOP as the antisocial cult fanatics that they are, eh? Gifted in the art of doublespeak, treachery, and Indian gifting...
People are not hopelessly ignorant. I think it's closer to the truth that they are suffering from information overload. They have shut down to isolate themselves from the sensory input onslaught. Americans, most notably conservatives, are unable to deal with change and therefore always look to Rupert Murdoch to assure themselves that first, things are not changing and second, if they are then the battle to stop it will continue to the point of armed rebellion. The conservative politicians merely have to say no.
One has to actually "admire" the GOP with their tenacity and their "ability" to NOT let facts get in their way.
OTOH, some people might say they are LIARS, CHEATS AND THIEVES.