Bob CollinsThe verdict is in: The stimulus plan created 1 – 2.1 million jobs through December 2009.
The report comes today from the Congressional Budget Office, a non-partisan office that is cited as reputable by both sides when it suits them. Here’s the full report.
That’s quite a wide range of numbers there. The CBO says while 600,000 jobs were reportedly created in the 4th quarter, the actual number might be higher or lower than that. Lower, because the jobs might’ve already existed, and higher because the reports measured only the jobs created by employers, not by subcontractors.
That’s a nice way of saying that when Democrats say the stimulus has worked, and Republicans say it hasn’t, both are just guessing and cherry-picking data.
For its part, the CBO reports tax cuts are going to be $7 billion more than it originally estimated because tax changes were carried out more quickly than it expected. It also said spending was lower — albeit slightly lower — than it had predicted.
Incidentally, here’s a moment of serendipity in reading an otherwise dull government report. In a typically bland preface, the report credits various people who worked on it, including Lenny Skutnik who was in charge of printing it. Does that name sound familiar? Maybe this will help.
It’s the answer to the “whatever happened to Lenny Skutnik?” question. A non-descript government employee who became internationally famous for jumping into the Potomac to rescue victims of a plane crash in a “rousing act of courage,” then went back to being a non-descript government employee. It’s too bad. He’s not a guy who should be forgotten:
