Despite the fact that the nation’s unemployment rate today stands at 9.6 percent, well above the Obama Administration’s projected maximum of 8 percent, President Barack Obama’s Counsel of Economic Advisors (CEA) boasted yesterday that the Democrats’ failed $787 billion stimulus debacle, which U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) voted for, “has exceeded the original goal.”
As the Associated Press reports:
The White House says the $800 billion stimulus law passed in the early days of the Obama administration continues to improve economic conditions and increase employment. President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers issued a report Thursday concluding that the contentious law that targeted the recession has been a significant factor in the recovery … Unemployment, however, is 9.6 percent. And the report comes after an election in which voters appeared to reject assertions by Obama and Democrats that they had pulled the country out of an economic quagmire.
Upon her party-line vote to ram the bill into law, McCaskill promised the legislation would “create and save jobs and help spur recovery.” But since the passage of the McCaskill-Obama stimulus, the nation’s unemployment rate has increased to 9.6 percent and the United States has lost more than 2.5 million jobs.
Meanwhile, the McCaskill-backed stimulus bill paid for a number of non-job related projects, including a study to determine how monkeys react to cocaine; $2 million to examine exotic ants; a system to purchase cell phones for smokers trying to quit, and $760,000 for a computerized choreography program, among other wasteful endeavors.
“It’s a simple question: Does Claire McCaskill agree with President Obama that their $787 billion stimulus debacle ‘exceeded’ expectations?” asked National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Press Secretary Amber Marchand. “The facts are clear: Claire McCaskill’s reckless spending in Washington has failed to create jobs and get our economy back on track, while driving our national debt past $13.6 trillion.”
Background Information:
Today, The Unemployment Rate Stands At 9.6 Percent. (U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, Accessed 11/19/10)
The Obama Administration Projected That Unemployment Would Not Rise Above 8 Percent With Stimulus. (Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein, “The Job Impact Of The American Recovery And Reinvestment Plan,” 1/9/09) Since The Stimulus Was Passed, Over 2.5 Million Jobs Have Been Lost. (U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, Accessed 11/19/10)
Obama Promised That His Stimulus Plan Would Create Or Save 3.5 Million Jobs Over Two Years. Obama: “Now, what makes this recovery plan so important is not just that it will create or save 3.5 million jobs over the next two years …” (President Barack Obama, Remarks At The Signing Of The American Recovery And Reinvestment Act, Press Release, Denver, CO, 2/17/09)
