A Factoid About Obama's 'Stimulus'

"Now, I know that there's some who, despite all evidence to the contrary, still don't believe in the necessity and promise of this recovery act. And I would suggest to them that they talk to the companies who, because of this plan, scrapped the idea of laying off employees and, in fact, decided to hire employees. Tell that to the Americans who received that unexpected call saying, 'Come back to work.'"

-- Barack Obama, February, 2009 -- 

Those Americans are still waiting - exactly three years after Obama got his "stimulus" passed - for the phone to ring:

On 3rd Anniversary of Obama's $787B Stimulus, Unemployment Sets Record
By Matt Cover, CNS News

(CNSNews.com) - On the third anniversary of President Barack Obama’s $787-billion stimulus spending program, the unemployment rate set a new record, staying above 8 percent for the longest period since the end of World War II – 36 months.

That is the longest continuous period of above-8-percent unemployment since the end of World War II, according to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

In fact, the unemployment rate, currently at 8.3 percent, is exactly where it was three years ago when Obama signed the stimulus into law. [link] [emphasis mine]

All that money wasted. All his promises unfulfilled. Three years and nothing's changed.

And now he's asking for four more.

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To give the issue meaning, here's a chart showing what Obama promised three years ago bumped up against what's actually happened. (source) (click on the image to enlarge it)

Notice that Obama promised that we'd be at a comfortable 5.8% unemployment right now.

Not.

We wait with eager anticipation to find out what he's going to promise for the coming years.

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The numbers, as reported by Investor's Business Daily:

So three years later, how do the stimulus results stack up? Here's where various indicators stood in or around February 2009, and where they stand today.

Unemployment rate: The jobless rate is unchanged from February 2009 to January 2012, the latest month for which we have data. Both stood at 8.3%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Obama's economists had initially predicted that with the stimulus, unemployment would stay below 8%.

Number of long-term unemployed: The number of workers who have been unable to find a job in 27 months or more has shot up 83%, with their ranks now at 5.5 million.

Civilian labor force: It has shrunk by 126,000. In past recoveries, the labor force climbed an average of more than 3 million over comparable time periods.

Labor force participation: The share of adults in the labor force — either looking or working — has dropped 3% — also highly unusual in a recovery. At 63.7%, labor force participation is at a low not seen since the middle of the very deep 1981-82 recession, when fewer women were in the work force. A lower participation rate makes the unemployment rate look better.

Household income: Median annual household income is about 7% below where it was in February 2009, according to the Sentier Research Household Income Index.

National debt: Up $4.5 trillion, or 41%, according to the Treasury Department's monthly reports. The latest Treasury figures put the national debt at $15.4 trillion, larger than the entire U.S. economy.

Deficits: The deficit for fiscal year 2009 totaled $1.4 trillion. The Obama administration's proposed deficit for 2012 is $1.3 trillion, which would mark the fourth year of deficits topping $1 trillion.

Gross Domestic Product: Real GDP has climbed just 6% between Q1 2009 and Q4 2011, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Spending by consumers and businesses: Personal consumption has managed to climb 10% in the past three years, according to the BEA, but companies continue to hoard cash, with cash on hand up 27% since Q1 2009, according to the Federal Reserve Bank.

Stimulus price tag: The original estimate for the cost of the stimulus was $787 billion. Now the Congressional Budget Office says that, when all is said and done, it will have cost$825 billion .

Perhaps the best measure of the success or failure of the stimulus, however, is the fact that President Obama in his latest budget plan has called for still another round of stimulus spending, this time totaling $350 billion over the next four years, for what is labeled "short-term measures for jobs growth."

Pathetic. Worse still, it didn't have to be this way.