(Olivier Le Queinec/Dreamstime.com)
According to a new report from the nonpartisan CBO, the stimulus
saved up to 2.9 million jobs:
A new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report estimates that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) increased the number of people employed by between 1.0 million and 2.9 million jobs as of June.
Naturally, Rick Perry is therefore against any new stimulus:
Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry said Monday that no new economic stimulus package is needed to "get America working again," but he declined to give specifics about how his still-unannounced plan to jumpstart the nation's economy would create jobs. [...] "You won't have stimulus programs under a Perry presidency. You won't spend all the money."
Given where the economy is today, it's clear that the stimulus wasn't big enough. But it was far better than nothing, and while "it could have been worse" might not be a great political slogan, it makes a hell of a lot more sense than "it should have been worse," which, if you think about it, is exactly what Rick Perry is saying.