The Obama administration has been building up its contention that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also known as the stimulus, saved the economy from economic depression. The numbers lay this out clearly. During the last months of the Bush administration, the economy was shedding 800,000 jobs a month. After the stimulus passed and began funding projects, cutting taxes for 95% of families and saving everything from teacher’s jobs to police officer’s, the unemployment numbers began to decline.
While the rate of unemployment continued to increase, this slowed dramatically until in November 2009, when the economy finally began to create jobs again. As the president has said continuously, we have a long way to go before everyone that wants a job can find one. But to deny that the stimulus is working is to deny reality. Congress should follow up by passing a new jobs bill to spur further employment opportunities for our citizens. Republicans that block a jobs bill should be punished by voters for playing politics with the health of our economy.