Obama’s stimulus: $1 trillion spent to destroy half a million jobs

by NW Spotlight

“So the American people borrowed and spent close to a trillion dollars to destroy a net of more than one-half million jobs.”

Powerline is reporting on a study on the effects of the stimulus bill (ARRA) by economists Timothy Conley (University of Western Ontario, Canada) and Bill Dupor (The Ohio State University). Per Powerline, the bottom line of the 36-page study:

Our benchmark results suggest that the ARRA created/saved approximately 450 thousand state and local government jobs and destroyed/forestalled roughly one million private sector jobs. State and local government jobs were saved because ARRA funds were largely used to offset state revenue shortfalls and Medicaid increases rather than boost private sector employment. The majority of destroyed/forestalled jobs were in growth industries including health, education, professional and business services.