Last week the Obama Administration offered its first peek into where 2009 stimulus funds have been awarded, by state or territory.  That data shows how stimulus funds awarded to date range from a low of $2 per capita in Puerto Rico, $7 per capita in Rhode Island, and $12 per capita in Michigan all the way up to $950 per capita in Washington, D.C.  That’s despite the fact that Puerto Rico… Read more

Exchange at the October 8, 2009 Ways and Means Subcommittee Hearing on the Effectiveness of Democrats’ 2009 Stimulus Law QUESTION: Rep. John Linder (R-GA), on the effectiveness of Democrats’ 2009 stimulus law:              "How’s it working so far ?” ANSWER: Lawrence Mishel, Economic Policy Institute (a Democrat-invited witness): “I think it’s working amazingly well. We are… Read more

The table below compares the White House's February 2009 projection of the number of jobs that would be created by the 2009 stimulus law (through the end of 2010) with the actual change in state payroll employment through August 2009 (the latest state-by-state figures currently available).  As this table shows, the only place in America solidly on track to meet the Administration’s job… Read more

Source: Ways and Means staff calculations, using Department of Labor and Department of Treasury data.  Baseline for debt data, which is tracked to the day, is January 21, 2009.   ### Read more

Analysis by the Treasury Department shows that the Democrats’ National Energy Tax would likely cut U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) significantly: “Economic costs will likely be on order of 1% of GDP, making them equal in scale to all existing environmental regulation.”  Using the analytical methodology developed by Christina Romer, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, and Jared… Read more

Today, the White House issued an updated release of the number of jobs “created or saved” as a result of the Democrats' so-called stimulus bill.  Contrary to the Administration’s continued claims of jobs “created or saved” by stimulus, former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich broke the code when he said last week of such estimates that, “It… Read more

    The Labor Department announced this morning that employers eliminated another 216,000 American jobs last month, driving the unemployment rate to 9.7%.  However, just yesterday, Vice President Joe Biden stated that, “the recovery act is doing more, faster, more efficiently and more effectively than we had hoped.”   “The so-called stimulus bill has disastrously failed to meet… Read more

Despite the Administration’s claim that the “stimulus” is working, the Obama Misery Index (OMI) continued to rise in July.  The OMI measures the combined change in the public debt and unemployment since President Obama was inaugurated, which are now 40% higher than the levels on January 21, 2009.  The July rise in the OMI was driven by a continued sharp rise in the public debt, more… Read more

Today’s unemployment insurance (UI) benefit claims data from the U.S. Department of Labor reveals yet another record number of Americans collecting unemployment instead of a paycheck.  For the week ending July 4, the most recent for which we have full State and Federal data, nearly 9.2 million laid off workers collected UI benefits.  As the data below shows, the rise in the number of UI… Read more

President Obama’s rhetoric about a recession he “inherited” cannot disguise the fact the economy’s performance since his inauguration has only gotten worse.  Despite campaign pledges of fiscal responsibility and job creation, his early achievements, including an $800 billion stimulus bill, have resulted in rapidly growing debt combined with rising unemployment.  Taken together,… Read more