How would you fix the economy and budget issues?

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by 12thMan

No one --not a single economist-- thought the recovery would take this long. The Administration's biggest mistake was floating that 8% unemployment number from the jump, not trying to stimulate the economy.

Historically speaking it takes time for an economy this large to recovery from a recession, such as the one we're coming out of, and even longer to replace all the lost jobs. They caved to the intense political environment and the urgency to grease the wheels and get things going so they threw out 8%. It was stupid and they know it, but they saved and created a lot of damn jobs in the process.

Ok these numbers come from the White House. It cost us around 280,000 for each job they claimed to create but they quit using that term because they know it failed.

WASHINGTON - White House economists say the $821 billion economic stimulus passed early in 2009 is responsible for at least 2.4 million jobs that otherwise would not have existed because of the recession.
A new report by the White House Council of Economic Advisers says the spending and tax breaks in the package are phasing out and their effect on economic growth and hiring is declining.
When passed, the Obama administration said the stimulus would halt rising unemployment at about 8 percent.
Unemployment, however, peaked at 10.1 percent in October of 2009. The White House has said it underestimated the force of the recession.
The administration no longer uses the much maligned phrase "saved or created" jobs. Instead, it says the stimulus "raised employment relative to what it otherwise would have been."
(Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)