hypocritexposer
Well-known member
I guess you could say the stimulus failed twice. It was not passed soon enough to help the economy to recovery (the economy did that on it's own), and it didn't help keep the unemployment rate below 8% as promised.
Recession Ended in June 2009? Who Ended It?
![]()
The National Bureau of Economic Research, the official arbiter of the U.S. business cycle, on Monday announced that our ‘Great Recession’ officially ended in June of 2009.
The recession lasted 18 months, making it the longest post-World War II recession (both the recessions of 1973-1975 and 1981-1983 lasted 16 months).
That is all well and good. I am sure you are jumping for joy at the news.
The real question is: why did the recession end?
For the last 20 months, Mr. Obama has stated that the current economic quandary we find ourselves in is all the fault of his predecessor, President George W. Bush. The logical follow through on that statement, however, would be that it was President Bush, not President Obama, who then helped end the recession. Correct?
Democrats will obviously counter that it was Mr. Obama’s stimulus that pulled us out of the recession. But the facts, again, counter this argument. Less than 5% of the stimulus money was spent before June 2009. In fact, Bush’s 2007 tax cut program infused more money into the economy than the Obama Stimulus did by that point in time. Giving Obama credit for the end of the recession, when he refused to take credit for the other economic factors, is simply disingenuous.
But that is not even the worst part of it. From the New York Times, of all places:
The United States economy has lost more jobs than it has added since the recovery began over a year ago.
Yes, you read that correctly.
The downturn officially ended, and the recovery officially began, in June 2009, according to an announcement Monday by the official arbiter of economic turning points. Since that point, total output — the amount of goods and services produced by the United States — has increased, as have many other measures of economic activity.
But nonfarm payrolls are still down 329,000 from their level at the recession’s official end 15 months ago, and the slow growth in recent months means that the unemployed still have a long slog ahead.
This is now, other than the 2001 recovery, the worst post-World War II recovery ever. And remember…that 2001 recovery had to also recover from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
If the recession ended in June 2009, it certainly wasn’t because of the Obama Stimulus. And it was unlikely any other government program pulled us out of the downturn. More than likely, the economy recovered…on its own.
Shocking, no?
In fact, one could argue that government spending and increased regulations slowed the pace of recovery, by causing businesses to reconsider investments. This is hard to quantify, to be sure, and I have little evidence to back it up. But common sense tells us that an economic environment with increased regulatory and taxation policy would hinder economic growth.
So, after 20 months in office, Mr. Obama blames his predecessor for a recession that Obama clearly did not bring to an end, and a recovery that Obama has yet to begin. Quite an accomplishment.
http://neoavatara.com/blog/?p=11662