The stalled economy

Let us recap: When the stimulus packaged was passed by Congress,
President Obama assured Americans that this huge unfunded spending
proposal was necessary to keep unemployment from rising and would
restore growth to the recessionary economy. On July 11, 2009, President
Obama said the stimulus package “worked as intended … ”

“The recovery plan,” he said, “was not designed to work over four months. It is designed to work over two years.”

Unfortunately, this is not how the stimulus package was sold to the
American people. In his Jan. 24, 2009, radio address, the president said
the purpose of the stimulus plan is “to immediately  jump-start job
creation as well as long-term economic growth.”

Immediately is not two years. In fairness to Obama, he also told the American people that “this is not just a short-term program to boost employment. It’s one that will invest in our most important priorities like energy and education, healthcare and a new infrastructure.” In other words, the real purpose of the stimulus package was to substantially increase government spending using economic stimulus and job recovery as a smokescreen to sell the American people. Unfortunately, at the time, the mainstream media were too intoxicated with Obama mania to point out the real purpose of the stimulus package to the American people.
 
At this point, very few economists and businessmen see light at the end of the recessionary tunnel. When the $787 billion package was passed by Congress in February 2009, the unemployment rate was 8.1 percent. If the purpose of the stimulus package was to keep employment from increasing beyond 8.1 percent and to stimulate economic growth, it has so far failed. Since February 2009, the unemployment rate increased to 9.5 percent and is expected to exceed 10 percent by the end of 2011. U.S. gross domestic product is expected to have declined about 1 to 2 percent in the second quarter after declining 5.7 percent in the first. Clearly, the fiscal policies and the proposed agenda of the Obama administration have not yet helped mitigate the recession. However, if the purpose were to substantially increase government spending, it has succeeded.