Research

Christina Romer, chair of Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, just told a Congressional panel that the stimulus has already had its “biggest impact” on the economy.  She continued and said that next year the stimulus’ affect on the economy will dwindle.  This comes at the same time she reminded the Congressional panel of the facts that we’ve been hearing for months, that unemployment will continue to be high next year.  It appears there is no help in sight for the unemployed and the millions who are predicted to lose their jobs in the coming year.  But no worries, the stimulus already created 600,000 to 1.5 million jobs, according to Romer.  What she won’t tell you is that the administration’s method of counting jobs created by the stimulus is questionable at best. 

What Romer also forgot to mention is that since the stimulus was passed, over 2.6 million people have lost their jobs.  We also just found out that nonfarm payroll jobs decreased in 43 of 50 states last month, and Nevada, Rhode Island and Florida hit record unemployment rates.  Yesterday at a meeting focused on the economy, hosted by Speaker Pelosi, economists in attendance warned that we could have a jobless recovery.  Economist Mark Zandy called the economy “very fragile.”  But I guess, if the stimulus has already done its job and won’t help the economy in the future, we should expect nothing less.