Biden credits stimulus plan with sparking economic recovery
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/09/03/art.biden.0903.gi.jpg
caption="Vice President Joe Biden trumpeted the role of the stimulus package in sparking an economic recovery."]
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Vice President Joe Biden trumpeted the role of the administration's $787 billion stimulus package Thursday in sparking an economic recovery.
"There is a growing consensus: the recovery act is working," he told an audience at the Brookings Institute.
"Instead of talking about the beginning of a depression, we are talking about the end of a recession."
The stimulus plan, enacted almost 200 days ago, "is doing more faster and more efficiently and more effectively than most people expected," he argued.
The vice president, who is overseeing the implementation of the plan, cited multiple independent analysts who claim the stimulus plan has created or saved between 500,000 and 750,000 jobs.
Economists from Goldman Sachs, he noted, believe the recovery plan added over 2 percentage points in growth to the country's gross domestic product in the second quarter of 2009.
They believe it will add 3.3 points in the third quarter, he added.
The Republican National Committee sharply disputed Biden's claims, releasing a statement characterizing the stimulus plan as a failure.
"The Democrats' rhetoric on their economic experiment doesn't match with the reality of millions of Americans remaining unemployed," the statement said. "The stimulus was an economic experiment that failed."
Most Americans remain pessimistic about the state of the economy. Nearly nine in 10 believe the country is still in a recession, according to an August 28-31 CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll.
Almost 40 percent of Americans believe the Obama administration's policies have improved economic conditions. Thirty-four percent believe Obama's policies have worsened the economic climate, while 27 percent believe they have had no effect.
Altogether, employers have announced over 1,070,000 job cuts so far this year - 60 percent more than at this point a year ago. The current tally is less than 200,000 away from surpassing the total number of job cuts in all of 2008.
The Labor Department's monthly jobs report, due Friday, is expected to show that the economy shed 265,000 jobs in August, slightly more than the 247,000 reported for July, according to a consensus estimate of economists compiled by the Web site Briefing.com.
The unemployment rate is predicted to rise from 9.4 to 9.5 percent.
–CNN's Jessica Dickler contributed to this report
Remember folks, what matters is how YOUR economy is doing and not how THE economy is doing.
lol you can always count on Joe to give ya'll a laugh.
did I miss the last two GDP grow reports showing growth?
hey unemployment is going to rise above 10% so just get ready.
I m unsure if we will have two quarters of GDP growth until 2010
this is just my opinion
Ok, first of all, there is almost no way to claim, either way, what effect the stimulus had on our 'recovery'. The best they could do is show examples of how the money was spent and therefore kept or created those jobs. For example, ~500 million went to tesla motors as a loan to create an all electric car. This will create 1000 jobs in California and go a long way on getting us off of oil. Since it was a loan, we will get that money back. It's obvious that spending this much money had an impact on the economy. Just look at what the cars for clunkers program did with 3 billion. But there is really no good way to measure the overall impact to the economy. Both parties are just making noise right now when they should be talking about health care.
Joe Biden, the gaffe that just keeps on giving. Joe, later this year, can we quote you on this one?
CNN, please don't put me on the White House's email enemies list, OK?
The RNC needs quit their continual lies and read the Wall Street Journal, which noted the success of the stimulus towards our economic recovery.
Could you imagine the mess if these do-nothing GOPers had their way again? Depression and Hoovervilles come to mind. No thanks.
VP Biden, you have to be kidding me. Unemployment is the worst it has been in years, even under your scapegoat. You promised the numbers to stay at 8%, that didn't happen, they went up to 1.5%. Now you want to take more money? Forget it.
Typical Biden math.
For every job that was saved, it seems 2 were lost. Joe is the Dem version of Cheney. All he does is say something stupid.
I have some questions. Why has less then 20% of the money been spent, and on what? Where is the other 80% of the money allocated gone? When does the remaining 80% plan to be spent, and on what? If this bill was such a necessity to keep unemployment below 8%, why is unemployment at 9.4%?
Why can't reporters ask these kinds of quesitons. Instead, CNN is 24 hour Sarah Palin news.
For the sake of our Nation, I pray that nothing happens to Obama in his four year term so that we would never be subjected to having this idiot as our leader. We are doing just fine at destroying our Nation with the idiot we now have!
"The statistics show that the vast majority of economists agree that it is actually a combination of the Obama AND Bush efforts that date back to October of last year, well before Obama did ANYTHING that are to be credited."
Actually, Obama voted for the bailout, which was jointly pushed by Bush and the Dems (wonder of wonders). To be fair, if he can be blamed for voting for it, he can also be given credit for voting for it...depending on which side of that argument you fall (blame v. credit).
No one in this administration is prancing around like an idiotic peacock arrogantly and erroneously boasting MISSION ACCOMPLISHED vis-a-vis the economy. For the umpteenth time for those that clearly wish there were NO HOPE, it is going to get worse before it gets better, and it is going to take time. The measures that were put in place were not band-aids. Stop wanting instant fixes and gratification. It took us many years to come to the edge of the precipice due to many an imbecilic and greedy decision. Now you're going to have to sit tight until Obama fixes it. And believe me, he's going to fix it for the long term, not the pretty short-haul.
According to Joe..., the economy is much better than they expected!!?
Didn't these jokers tell us during the presidential campaign that this stimulus would create/save 4 million jobs?? I still don't see any evidence that supports 500-750 thousand? Politics as usual!
"I have some questions. Why has less then 20% of the money been spent, and on what?"
Check the website. Most of the money is slated to be spent over the long term.
"Where is the other 80% of the money allocated gone?"
Nowhere. I know you'd like the answer to be "into Obama's pocket" or some such nonsense, but it's just not been spent yet...ergo, it hasn't "gone" anywhere.
"When does the remaining 80% plan to be spent, and on what?"
read the bill.
"If this bill was such a necessity to keep unemployment below 8%, why is unemployment at 9.4%?"
Because even the greatest economic geniuses in our country and out of it, can't make perfect predictions as to how the market will behave, particularly when one party in our gov't is hellbent on usiong lies and fear to destroy consumer confidence in order to keep things depressed, so they can point at the problem as a failure of Obama and the Dems.
Clearly, it IS working. Job losses have slowed, credit is flowing, investors are comfortable again, home prices seem to be stabilizing – and things will continue to improve as more of the money from the Recovery Act is released and more projects are begun. Job well done!
I don't see how this is so confusing for people. The recession is nearly over. Do you idiots honestly think the President's policies have had no effect on that?
"Economists from Goldman Sachs, he noted, BELIEVE the recovery plan added over 2 percentage points in growth to the country's gross domestic product in the second quarter of 2009."
... and my neighbor believes the moon landing was faked and that wrestling is not scripted ... yeah, he's a union guy.
Why not find someone with PROOF that the pork-filled-excuse-for-gimme-gimme legislation will do anything more than increase our interest payments to China?
No matter what happens, even if the streets become paved with gold and everyone gets a brand new plasma screen TV, the GOP base will STILL hate Obama and his administration.
Why? Because they hate that an Ivy League-educated black liberal with a foreign-sounding name is president. They may rail about job losses, deficits, etc. (all things that, curiously enough, did not matter to them during the Cheney/Bush administration), but that's just a thin veneer for the real core ugliness that drives these people.
I recently took a 300 mile trip on 75 and 23 in Ohio. I saw lots of road construction. I think the stimulus package is working. There are groups and news stations that will always have a negative view. I could name them but I'm sure the more educated knowledgeable people know.
There are people who would have something negative to say regardless. They always seem 2/b the GOP, less educated (those who have no knowledge as to how the system works), those that listen to Limbaugh, Hannity, Combs etc. They can brainwash the ones who choose to not research all the facts. They appear to be the less educated and many HATE people of color.
IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT PRES. OBAMA SAYS OR DOES THEY WILL ALWAYS HAVE SOMETHING NEGATIVE TO SAY. It is best for the economy to grow SLOWLY, on a solid, sound, stable foundation.
The job loss started long ago when we AS Americans wanted every thing cheap. We got it, junk from China, India, etc.
Get jobs back in US by buying American. We cut our own throats.
Joe, did you know that another quarter of a million people lost jobs this month? The total is at 3 million and rising each month.
You are an idiot.
Best joke I have heard today. Biden spread that propoganda for the Campaigner and Chief.
You and hugo have to have your head firmly up your uber-partisan nether-regions to claim that this administration is "destroying our Nation". This administration has done a great job of saving this nation from a [R]-generated economic catastrophy. To post on here about how its the [D]'s fault that the unemployment rate went above 8% is just pure rightwing delusion....that it did go above 8% is a sign of just how ABJECT the [R] economic failure really was. Just think where the unemployment rate would be, and the suffering that American's would be enduring, if the Obama adminstration had NOT stepped in, but had instead followed the [R] plan of do nothing and let the country recover on its own IN THE YEAR 2019!!! That people go around propagating and believing rightwing fairytales, does not speak well for their gene pool.
You are a blatant liar.
Only a fraction of the stimulus has been spent so I would hardly attribute anything to the wasted stimulus money. Take a look at where that money is going. I know, because some of my projects are getting "stimulus" money and there is nothing stimulative about my projects. The so-called "recovery" we are seeing is short-term at best because there is no innovation behind it.
The economy has recovered? More wishful thinking by the morons on capital hill and their willing enablers.
"There is a growing consensus: the recovery act is working,"
Wow, tell that to the 12% who are currently unemployed...
There is only one economic stimulus that will restore the U.S. economy.
That stimulus is to end the economic colonialism of cheap Chinese, Pakistani, etc. goods and start producing everything here again that can be produced here. Then people will be hired, they will have money to spend again since work is available for them, and the companies will find their profits rising since people can actually buy things.
Do they honestly think that they can deprive a sizable proportion of the population of work through their "open door" policy to foreign economic predation, and then expect that population to support a healthy economy with their spending?
You've got to have money before you can spend it, and you've got to have work before you can have money ....