Effect Of Stimulus Package

Aren't you glad we did the "second stimulus" after President Obama took office?  Here's a handy chart to remind you what President Obama said would happen if we didn't pass the stimulus, and comparing it to what has actually happened.

Gee, if we hadn't have passed the stimulus, we'd have had close to 9% national unemployment by now!  As it is, we now have... um... 10%.  But hey, it could have been much, much worse!  Vice President Biden assures us that in fact, the Obama Administration's wise leadership in getting that stimulus package has saved a million jobs!  (Props if you, too, can spot the error in the Vice-President's math.  Diss if you actually believe what he's trying to sell you.)

Economists don't have to be right to earn their paychecks.  They just have to be credible.  All the same, this just goes to show what some people were saying back then -- you can't spend your way out of a problem caused by not having enough money in the first place.

Hat tip to the as-usual-spot-on Doug Mataconis, on days like today a one-man engine of pithy, informative, principled, and most of all, smart political commentary.  Below the Beltway is easily my favorite political blog and if you're not already subscribed to it -- why ever not?