The Stimulus Worked.

This analysis of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (aka: the stimulus), by New York Times reporter David Leonhardt, is the most important thing you’ll read today:

Imagine if, one year ago, Congress had passed a stimulus bill that really worked.

Let’s say this bill had started spending money within a matter of weeks and had rapidly helped the economy. Let’s also imagine it was large enough to have had a huge impact on jobs — employing something like two million people who would otherwise be unemployed right now.

If that had happened, what would the economy look like today?

Well, it would look almost exactly as it does now. Because those nice descriptions of the stimulus that I just gave aren’t hypothetical. They are descriptions of the actual bill.

In short, the stimulus worked, and anyone who tells you otherwise is either a) misinformed, b) a hack or c) trying to sell you something.

Jamelle

Jamelle Bouie is a writer for Slate. He has also written for The Daily Beast, The American Prospect and The Nation. His work centers on politics, race, and the intersection of the two.

You can find him on Twitter, Flickr, and Instagram as jbouie.

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  • Seth from LA

    I’ll go with (c). Well (a) and (b) too. The misinformed ones are getting their information from hacks who are trying to sell the idea that Obama’s is a failed Presidency. Never mind the mess he was handed. Never mind the unprecidented obstructionist nature of the opposition party. And never mind that he never claimed to be as progressive as many of his supporters wanted to believe him to be. Too many people have too much at stake to admit the President has had any victories.

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