... was the first full day of the stimulus thingie:
We put this up because, you know, besides covering animation we're also a labor blog ... and the video above is about job loss and job creation.
I'm one of those who believe the stimulus didn't work as well as it could have because it was under-powered. But of course, nobody knew how deep the depression was in February, 2009. The negative numbers -- shrinking GDP and rising unemployment -- were half of what they ultimately turned out to be.
And I know that, three years farther on, one of the memes out there is that the stimulus "failed," so it's useful to look at charts and numbers. And this video has a lot of them.
If you're a "fresh water" economist out of the Friedman-University of Chicago school, you believe that Keynesian economics has been discredited, is old hat, and that "nobody takes it seriously anymore," (etc.) But I fall into the Franklin Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan and Dick Nixon camps. They were all practicing Keynesians, and I'm a Keynesian too.
Now, let the snark-filled attacks and political mudslinging begin! ...
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18 comments:
OF course it worked. The bush economic depression dragged the economy into the pits. While bush bailed out the banks (with no strings attached until President Obama put them there), the stimulus helped stave off the worst aspects of the big government/free spending top congress (under bush, government grew larger than any time in history).
Imaging if the FULL stimulus had been enacted, instead of being obstructed by the gNOp congress.
Keynes and Friedman were both wrong - all hail Thomas Malthus!!!
Kynes would repudiate our current economic system and the way his ideas have been subverted to the profit of the ones who have access to big easy fresh printed money out of the federal reserve. That not only did not stop nor prevented the crash in the 20's and the great depression but made it worst. There's almost not good examples of free economic policies and sound money , aka honest monetary system. but that does not mean that when it has been proved it has created the most prosperity for the most people ever in history. What we hace now is not free market, is in/trade monopoly rig system and the free market takes the blame. If you guys like central economic planning see how well that worked for the Soviet union or to the European Union.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xAGPpgK534
Bzzt. False dichotomy. It's possible to stimulate the economy without swearing allegiance to Brother Stalin.
You lose.
Just as big business and bush did.
So if Bush is to blame than explain how Obama has put us in debt more than any other president. At some point he needs to stop blaming and begin to be held responsible for the current mess. He said he would line by line he hasn't, he said there would be change, yes for the worse, he says we must all sacrifice but his wife and him sure don't. Obama, worst president ever!
Hey, Rush Jr. ...did you watch the video? Try it and prepare to have your mind blown. Of course, you might need to spend more time watching FOX news to get the sense of truth out of your head...
Obama, worst president ever!
Based on what? We've had job growth for over two years. And the stock market is nudging 13,000.
Don't forget about the auto industry bouncing back from bankruptcy. Unemployment claims have dropped while manufacturing jobs are creeping back up. If Obama is the worst President ever, then running a country in turmoil must be pretty easy. I mean, even a dunce can bring the economy back into shape if an incompetent guy like that has made progress.
I love how conservatives scream about deficits under Obama, as if the imploded economy that Bush II left behind didn't matter, didn't factor in, didn't happen at all.
Obviously, the deficits that Obama ran up were due to having to fix the utter catastrophe that Bush's eight years wrought upon our economy.
Job growth for two years,where the hell are you getting your facts from, let me guess MSNBC. We the tax payers bailed out the auto makers and will not make a dime back on it. What does the government know about running a car company, absolutely nothing. Obama also voted for the stimulus so yes he is to blame, I didn't see him casting a vote against it. I stand by my word he is the worst.
I dunno. Warren G. Harding was a pretty bad President.
...not to mention this is exactly the type of arrogance us liberals start to exude that does us in every time, leaving the front door wide open for crackpots on the right to slip in and start tearing up the place again. From the perspective of solid economic argument, this video is political trash. I wince at this type of nonsense. No bailout is a good thing in the long term. Something has to change, and Obama is not changing it. He better start soon.
I am assuming the two comments before this one are by democrats because one states he voted for Obama and the other states "us liberals". Upon saying that, these are two democrats that I truly respect their opinion and I thank them for that. I say this because they admit that Obama has not come through as he said he would and that liberals often become arrogant which is their down fall. I respect those opinions more for being able to be honest and saying that maybe their choice was not completely right. Republicans should do the same as well but it is nice to know these two have their hearts in the right place.
If you factor in the "off the books" cost of two wars during the Bush years, I sincerely doubt that Obama would continue to hold the record for most debt incurred by one administration. And let's not forget that, prior to Obama, fully half of our national debt was run up by the last three Republican presidents.
The United States population has failed to be productive and competitive beyond the consumer and FIRE economy, which was constructed from the top policymakers in the 80's to fill the enormous gap left by the energy crisis of the 70's, the post Viet Nam malaise, and the gradual, yet very obvious, collapse of the manufacturing economy. We have been unable to maintain (in a real economic sense) the high standard of living we see ourselves as deserving for the last 30 years, and the national debt reflects this. This reality compounds daily, as does our denial.
We are fundamentally unable to face this domestic truth, since it has gone on across several generations now.
One of the direct and most tragic consequences of this is that we are unable to see our foreign policy as fundamentally imperialist, out of pure necessity. There is something in our collective psyche that refuses to view our interests in the world at large as being offensive. Politically, we paint ourselves as a sort of 'sympathetic imperialist.' (We can only bear to call our own military 'defense' out of this same collective denial.) A country accepting of this much debt has no other choice BUT to be on the offense in the world. It is the nature of empire.
These things are all directly related. It is difficult to see these truths when living under them from generation to generation, but this is the paradox populations of empires often find themselves living under.
OK, who wants cake?
I would, if anyone can still afford some in this economy.
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