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CBO: Stimulus Put Up To 2.8M People To Work In First Quarter


President Barack Obama

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It sure sounds like it's working...

The CBO now estimates that the stimulus put as many as 2.8 million people to work in the first three months of this year -- and raised GDP by as much as 4.2%.

The CBO estimates that the stimulus put 1.2 million to 2.8 million to work in the first quarter, and boosted GDP between 1.7% and 4.2%.

Thanks to the stimulus, the unemployment rate was lowered by between .7% and 1.5% in the first quarter, the CBO estimates.

Vice President Joe Biden said in a statement that the CBO report "is important validation that the action we took to rescue the economy last year has not only pulled us back from the brink, but put us on a firm path toward economic recovery."

Check out the highlights of the CBO's numbers here, and the full report here (.pdf).

Comments (57) | Join the Conversation!

May 26, 2010 8:44 AM   

Lies, the stimulus didn't work. Or, wait did it?

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May 26, 2010 10:59 AM    in reply to vasu

Hey, depending on how you measure something, almost any conclusion is possible. Just ask Pons and Fleischmann. I'm sure from France to Russia, we'll soon have other reports of Government Stimulus working.

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May 26, 2010 8:51 AM   

It doesn't matter, AP tells us we don't believe facts, we prefer to be duped to justify our teenage rage!

Of course things are tough but being angry at Obama from Feb 2009 after he took office, with the drums of "country going in wrong direction!!!" without proof of where else we should be headed shows just how immature our national psyche is, at least some of US!

"The public has come to believe the stimulus bill and financial bailout were of no use in helping the economy, contrary to evidence suggesting otherwise" AP

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May 26, 2010 9:11 AM    in reply to FebM

The problem is though that Dems are still having issues phrasing the message so that it makes them look good. Instead they let the Republican continue to make shit up and not call them out on it.

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May 26, 2010 9:33 AM    in reply to vasu

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!!

Since the Democrats' ideas have flown in the face of conventional American political wisdom, it's even more important that they get out in front of the message. I'm still stunned that Obama the candidate was so good at this, yet Obama the President has been so horrible at it.

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May 26, 2010 9:44 AM    in reply to vasu

Not "calling them out on it" is the response. If we leave them o their devices, shouting in their own echo chambers eventually the people who can be persuaded by evidence and reason will realize just how caught up in their own version of reality these right wingnuts are. Not giving them the dignity of a response says they are not even convincing enough to justify refutation. Silence, when used strategically, can be a deafening sound.

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May 26, 2010 10:00 AM    in reply to vasu

I agree with that. They should be out there calling press conferences to point out the lies of the republicans. Very frustrating indeed.

However, wait until the angry progs wake up and see the story. You know they will be bitching and complaining that it's not good enough.

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May 26, 2010 10:34 AM    in reply to chameleon

I understand silence can be golden to some extent. But when you are present with out and out lies. You have to call them on it. Silence doesn't work. Especially with all the "Conservative" talk pundits like Beck and Hannity.

The nice thing to note here though, is both of those know-nothings have been sliding in ratings as people start to step away from the punch.

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May 26, 2010 9:51 PM    in reply to chameleon

Yeah, well: I actually think it's a good thing to expect better and more from leadership.
To just give up and say: "yeah, that's good enough - pat yourself on the back" is anti-progress at it's most lazy.
To just call it whining misses the point entirely - and anyone who thinks that way has fallen victim to right wing manipulation.

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May 26, 2010 11:12 AM    in reply to vasu

We tend to think the problem is the Dems have not branding the GOP as they should be branded. Defined them if you will. There is piles of daily news that should allow Dems to make the GOP radioactive. But they have to want to. They have to play hardball. We try to help here:

http://guttertruth.blogspot.com/

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May 26, 2010 11:32 AM    in reply to FebM

Well, I for one am relieved.

To quote from the report,

"One pitfall of this approach is that the direction of causation between policies and the economy is not always clear. For example, poor economic conditions can prompt the government to enact policies such as ARRA in an effort to boost economic activity. If weak economic performance led to such a policy, it would not be accurate to ascribe that performance to the policy, rather than vice versa. Likewise, if states and localities reduced purchases and laid off employees when their budgets deteriorated in a recession, it would not be accurate to blame the cuts in government spending for causing the recession. When causation runs in both directions in this way, the historical correlation between variables may not be a good guide for predicting the effects of a newly proposed policy."

At first I was worried that these were just estimates, but knowing the solid methodology for making this rosy conclusion, I for one, am perfectly reassured. So, as the owner of a good-sized business, I'm going to start investing more into it. Using these new "Estimated Output Multipliers", I figure I can plan on some major growth in the coming years. Of course, I'll have to adapt, because according to the CBO, a inordinately large portion of the new growth comes from the "purchases of goods and services by the Federal Government", so I need to start looking into offering new products and services, like porn and shovels.

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May 26, 2010 11:48 AM    in reply to FebM

could we call that "the Democrat's stimulus bill" and "the Republican's bailout bill?"

Not perfect, but accurate.

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May 26, 2010 8:53 AM   

Shorter Biden - "I got your bipartisanship right here."

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May 26, 2010 9:10 AM   

What's working? Lies from the White House & lamestream hacks? Same old same old.

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May 26, 2010 9:15 AM    in reply to Sailormarlowe

wat?

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May 26, 2010 9:17 AM    in reply to Sailormarlowe

No, your lies and ignorance. Same old same old. You don't have any facts so you make things up. And the actual facts you ignore. FYI, the CBO is non-partisan.

BTW, we now have a "Sailorman" section on our office bulletin board "Loony Teabagger of the Day" section for everyone here to laugh at. Congratulations.

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May 26, 2010 9:54 PM    in reply to Sailormarlowe

That's right: you only champion and praise and plug the CBO when it fits your ideology - if it doesn't, then reality is just an attack on your 'freedom'.
Grow up you sad little idiot.
Go and consume some fear & conspiracy theories generated by your favorite right wing hate monger.

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May 26, 2010 9:20 AM   

In fact, if it weren't for the economy in Europe falling apart - the financial markets would be soaring right now.

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May 26, 2010 9:29 AM   

Am I the only one troubled by the headline "Put up to 2.8 million to work." I understand that it's not wrong. But it's misleading and I suspect purposefully so. I feel like our side is better than that, or we should be. It's fine if you're debating, but this is supposed to be a news site, so I feel like they should have included "1.2 to 2.8". Besides, it's good news either way. When you embellish good news to make it better news, it just doesn't look good.

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May 26, 2010 9:30 AM   

I've been watching Fox News and this can't be true because they didn't say so.

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May 26, 2010 10:40 AM    in reply to latichever

Wow. All i can say is Wow.

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May 26, 2010 10:50 AM    in reply to vasu

your snark detector is due for servicing.

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May 26, 2010 11:06 AM    in reply to nova voter

Sorry. I'm not that clever when at work. Does this work better?

When you're born you get a ticket to the freak show. When you're born in America, you get a front row seat.
George Carlin

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May 26, 2010 1:42 PM    in reply to latichever

Fox? I'm not seeing this story anywhere. They are all Fox now.

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May 26, 2010 9:35 AM   

While this sounds great, the GOP/Tea Party still won't believe them. They will always look for the negative and will not ever give President Obama any credit for rescuing the economy even if they have to lie or make stuff up! They will go out of their way to ignore the huge white elephant sitting in the corner of the room eating peanuts if it means bad mouthing the President.

So while I see this as good news, I also expect the critics to write this off and continue their doom and gloom.

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May 26, 2010 11:39 AM    in reply to brothejr

@Brother

"will not ever give President Obama any credit for rescuing the economy"

Of course they won't, they'll just keep repeating the same old lies that the congressional majority was spewing back in 2007 while all the crap was building up in the financial system. And then when anyone points out the truth of what's really happening, they'll pull out the Hitler or Race card and smear their opponents.

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May 26, 2010 9:58 AM   

Obama's and democrats strategy to tout this fact is SHHHHHHH don't tell anyone while continue to get labeled by the republicans that the stimulus didn’t work

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May 26, 2010 9:59 AM   

Obama's and democrats strategy to tout this fact is SHHHHHHH don't tell anyone while continue to get labeled by the republicans that the stimulus didn’t work

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May 26, 2010 10:03 AM   

Isn't this exactly why Obama was elected? Can anyone really even imagine where palin/mcaain would have us & be taking us? I can, look at old man mccain right now today, & palin is a joke. The reason we are having this disastrous economy & apocalyptic period in time aren't due to Obama & his administration, the end of the slide & slow crawl out are.
From small to monumental, changes for the better have been happening & on the rise since day one.
The bushies, literally cost us a decade & attempted to make it a permanent vacation, paid for by, We the People. If you put all of the other problems together, they don't equal the devastating effects of bushs' wars, his unpaid for legislating & cheney's crony (Haliburton, Big Oil, Blackwater) insider deals.

Barack, his adminisration & we, the disenfranchised, are fighting back & winning.

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May 26, 2010 10:11 AM   

I suggest that they get a picture of Obama playing basketball with a bunch of guys in hard-hats in front of a factory with a big "Mission Accomplished" banner in the background. That would be great, and not in the least bit premature.

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May 26, 2010 10:20 AM   

Quick, cut spending to reduce the deficit. Then job growth can go down and we can fall back into the recession, just like 1937. Stay the course and continue to help the economy. Of course, I think the recession is all a plot by corporations to get the working people under their thumb and keep them scared so they will accept lower pay and fewer benefits. But then... Never mind.

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May 26, 2010 10:42 AM    in reply to 1audiofile

Your not wrong. I see it at my job all the time.

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May 26, 2010 11:43 AM    in reply to vasu

If anything, we need more union jobs and while we're at it, we need to give health and retirement benefits to all people universally. And not just Americans, but Mexicans, Canadians, at least everyone in the Western Hemisphere, otherwise, we're just being racist assholes (oops, can I say that?).

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May 26, 2010 11:49 AM    in reply to Seismedia

AND much, much more employee ownership... there's where the unions could really have a new kind of impact.

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May 26, 2010 12:07 PM    in reply to JEP07

"more employee ownership"

Well, that's pushing it, because some employees might end up with more than others and that would be counter-productive. What we're really looking at is GOVERNMENT OWNED, UNION STAFFED. That's the only way to bring about social justice!

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May 26, 2010 1:47 PM    in reply to Seismedia

Interestingly, I have conservative relatives who built their entire careers as part of a union. One worked in law enforcement for about 30 years, enjoying all the benefits of his union during this time including guaranteed pay raises, great benefits, etc. -- but as soon as he retired, he began decrying unions and saying they all should be scrapped, that they're what's wrong with the American economy. Wtf?

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May 26, 2010 4:14 PM    in reply to gridian

"I have conservative relatives who built their entire careers as part of a union. One worked in law enforcement for about 30 years, enjoying all the benefits of his union during this time including guaranteed pay raises, great benefits, etc. -- but as soon as he retired, he began decrying unions and saying they all should be scrapped, that they're what's wrong with the American economy."

Well, don't know your former law enforcement relative from Adam, so just a guess here, that he served honorably, was paid commensurate with his labor and sacrifice, enjoyed said benefits, and once he retired he realized his pension was paid for on the backs of future generations, not on annuities arising from his direct contributions, and the epiphany was wisdom one of your ancestors no doubt proclaimed, that there's no such thing as a free lunch.

Today, your relative is aware that he's at the tail end of a Ponzi scheme that can only end in disaster. So looking back, he realizes the dues he paid to the Union was wasted on executive excess and political lobbying from which the only result is to bankrupt the state and devalue the currency to the point that his (and everyone else's) pension will ultimately end in a poverty level stipend for him and indentured servitude for future generations.

That or he's just another one of those obviously stark raving mad right wing nuts...

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May 27, 2010 7:26 AM    in reply to Seismedia

And, like many conservatives, he'll never stop long enough to look in the mirror and see the voter who kept choosing tax cuts rather than properly funding the commitments that have instead been passed onto his grandkids.
I've got a buddy that is a firefighter, who bitches about union-corrupted government spending, and high taxes, and socialest liberals. All the while enjoying his 30+ hours of overtime every week because he "works" 3 24 hour shifts in a row - during which probably half of that is spent sleeping, surfing the internet, or doing paperwork for his second job. He never sees his pay, or more importantly the overtime that puts him close to six figures, as part of the reason the taxes on his house are "criminally" high.
And - there's the multi-million dollar robot his department recently got for hazard disposal. And the training to operate it. I don't think they've actually USED it, except for training, in the 18 months they've had it.

I see that a lot in Reagan fellators(figuratively, of course - the man is dead and buried - and that would be illegal). The tendency to refuse to direct any blame whatsoever towards their heroes, and consequently the supporters of those heroes, is almost sociopathological.
THEN, I usually get to hear about how Eisenhower was a pussy, communist-sympathizer, and coat-tail rider who never accomplished anything of consequence.
Listening to them, you'd think it was actually Reagan who commanded the Allied Forces in WWII and instituted the interstate highway system that so much of our present day economy cannot operate without.

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May 27, 2010 10:39 AM    in reply to kenga

"like many conservatives, he'll never stop long enough to look in the mirror and see"

Nope, Conservatives have no reflection, can't see themselves in the mirror. Like vampires, sucking all of the wealth out of the nation by lowering taxes and putting all that money in the evil private sector, particularly those McCain/GOP Small businesses. All we have left now to save us are unions. Here's to government owning ALL businesses and staffing them with Unions! Workers of the World UNITE!

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May 26, 2010 11:20 AM   

What this really demonstrates is the degree to which the much-vaunted "private sector" has been totally AWOL on job creation. If you're creating 1.2-2.8 million jobs and we're still at 9.9% unemployment, the private sector is a job killing abyss.

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May 26, 2010 12:14 PM    in reply to benintn

"the private sector is a job killing abyss"

That's all private businesses do, kill jobs. All they care about is making profits and paying big bonuses, not creating jobs. Have you ever read one of those annual reports? Nothing but how much profit on this, margins from that, don't give a spit for the working man!

Of course, the iPod and iPhone came out of the private sector, but they're all made in China now. Boycott China! Boycott Private Companies! But leave my iPod alone!

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May 26, 2010 9:58 PM    in reply to Seismedia

It's what American corporations do - but not small business. They most certainly create jobs.
Real small businesses, that is - not the McCain/gop version.
American corporations are the worst combination of capitalism and communism that exists today.

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May 27, 2010 2:41 AM    in reply to cinesimon

"Real small businesses, that is - not the McCain/gop version"

I'm right with you brother! Time to stop these job killers in their tracks!

But just so I understand, what exactly is the McCain/GOP version of small business? Would that be small, but evil businesses? Or would that be any regular (but small) business, but ones with conservative proprietors? I kind of want to know, because at this year's WTO, we're going to do a little window smashing and I don't want to harm "real" small businesses, just the McCain/GOP small businesses and it goes without saying the big evil ones. And just to be safe, are there any "big" businesses that are, ya know, okay? Once we get the criteria established, I think we can effectively punish the right ones without any collateral damage to the wrong ones.

I think long term, we need some sort of sticker or logo that will make it easier to recognize businesses and support those that are a friend to the people, ones that are owned by the people and supported by the Unions. I've been playing around with it and we could do a simple symbol, like a star or something and make it red so that it shows up and is easily recognizable. Or maybe push the envelope a bit and use a symbol that represents the hard work of the people, the farmers and factory workers. Like, say a hammer and a... I don't know what farmers use, maybe just a hammer and a happy face or something...

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May 29, 2010 11:34 AM    in reply to Seismedia

A hammer and a John Deere tractor.
Though if we're gonna update it, it'll have to be a pneumatic hammer.

Maybe a crossed keyboard and a fryolator basket?

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May 30, 2010 6:41 AM    in reply to kenga

"A hammer and a John Deere tractor."

LOL! Seriously though, John Deere are money-grubbing fat cats, one of the first companies to poo-poo on the sacred Obamacare Health Bill.

For a quick-mark symbol, we need something that really represents the hard labour of workers around the world, so it has to be a hand held hammer, but the Pneumatic one would be a hoot. I'd like to take a pneumatic hammer to Wall Street!

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May 26, 2010 11:43 AM   

curious how the news of all this momentum Obama deserves credit for is getting buried by the Gulf spill.

My tinfoil deerstalker is a-tinglin'. The neocons certainly do not want Obama to succeed, for so many reasons, and the timing of this event, (just before those employment numbers hit the presses) along with the parties who were involved (why isn't anyone talking about Halliburton's part in this any more?)

This is all beginning to sound like a really good Clancy novel... good, if it weren't really happening.

But when reality gets so wild it resembles fiction, you can expect the most outrageous scenarios to become the likeliest.

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May 26, 2010 11:55 AM    in reply to JEP07

There was a quote similiar to that of a movie with Jimmy Stewart, "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." The reason this was stated is because people don't like to buy stories about actual facts. They want it embellished and for their hero's to remain 20ft tall and shoot laser beams from the anus.

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May 26, 2010 12:18 PM    in reply to vasu

"shoot laser beams from the anus"

What're ya talking about?! We can't even keep a rover from getting stuck on Mars!

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May 26, 2010 12:47 PM    in reply to Seismedia

Because we don't have our 20ft hero's there that can shoot laser beams from their anus. Geesh...

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May 26, 2010 4:21 PM    in reply to vasu

"we don't have our 20ft hero's there that can shoot laser beams from their anus"

Huh? We don't have 20 foot heros on Mars? I'm still trying to decide whether the Apollo moon landings really happened, but I'm positive we don't have anyone on Mars "manning the laser beams", let alone 20 foot tall freaks.

Yikes, think you need to take off your tin foil hat and get back on the lithium Vasu, ya aren't making sense today!

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May 26, 2010 4:29 PM    in reply to Seismedia

I make sense some days?

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May 27, 2010 2:25 AM    in reply to vasu

LOL, now you're making sense!:)

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May 26, 2010 10:17 PM    in reply to JEP07

I'm hearin ya!!

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mcc

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May 26, 2010 11:56 AM   

So does this mean we can pass the rest of that "jobs agenda" bill from a few months back? You know, the one Harry Reid passed 1/4 of and claimed he'd go back to?

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Rob

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May 26, 2010 3:21 PM   

I've been on roads all over the country, in each state there were signs and construction from the stimulus and every one of the roads has deteriorated due to redirected tax revenues being channeled to subsidies for big oil, etc and two edict wars fostered by the PNAC.

Say what you will but even the National Parks out west are finally getting some of that money love that W canceled.

Good on ya Barack!

It's about time the carpool lane on the busiest freeway on the planet (405 in West Los Angeles) was completed.

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May 26, 2010 8:14 PM   


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May 27, 2010 9:14 PM   

NewsBusters: Media Tout CBO Stimulus Numbers, Ignore Their Disconnect From Reality
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/lachlan-markay/2010/05/27/media-tout-cbo-stimulus-numbers-ignore-their-disconnect-reality

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