Political Mythbusters – Volume 1, The Stimulus!

THE STIMULUS WORKED!

I am so sick of people lying about the effects of the stimulus plan, which by the way was a deal that was put together by most of the greatest minds in the country to prevent a depression. Republican politicians tried to have it both ways — talking out of both sides of their mouths. They went from rousing speeches about how President Obama is a socialist, to giant check presentation ceremonies in their districts — taking credit for putting all those teachers back to work and fixing that bridge or overpass in their town.

The common argument to bolster the myth is the very parochial one of saying, the unemployment rate is still high or there are still a lot of people out of work. No shit, but what would that unemployment rate have been without it? According to several measures, millions more would be without jobs. It worked for those people. It worked for all the people I saw working along the roads for the last two summers. It worked for all those teachers who didn’t have to apply at McDonalds for a drive-thru position. It worked for me when my taxes were lowered considerably and I was able to pay a few bills.

The Stimulus worked very well and arguing that it should have been bigger ignores the reality that Republicans are also in our government. We all wished it had been all stimulus and less tax cuts, but in order to pass a bill in our selfish country, that’s the way it works. It also ignores what we’ve learned recently, that we were in much worse shape than what the Bush administration told the new President on their way out. There seems to be a lot of ignoring going on in order for people to justify their need to perpetuate this myth. Omissions are lies, in my mind. When people conveniently ignore massive variables in an equation, like millions of jobs saved and the fact that there was NO DEPRESSION, they are just plain lying.

THE STIMULUS WORKED!

Cross-posted at Angry Black Lady Chronicles