Where credit is due

The narrative in a lot of the media right now is that the Republicans are going to beat up the Democrats in a few weeks because the dems have failed to get anything done on the economy. While I agree that more could have been done (especially without the GOP filibustering nearly everything) I still think it’s worth taking a look at what has actually been accomplished.

TARP

The Toxic Assets Relief Program or better known as (cue negative film and sinister voice) “The Bailout” has largely been a huge success. Of course no one wants to talk about it, but this bipartisan bill supported by George Bush, Barack Obama, and John McCain, has now done even better than economists had hoped. Bloomberg Businessweek (not exactly a leftist magazine) put out a report that the bank bailout has actually earned the U.S. government over $25 billion. Not to mention the whole, you know, preventing another great depression thing.

The Auto Bailout

Even I had my doubts about this one. I hated seeing the companies that had made routine of screwing over my home state get a big taxpayer paycheck. But when a friend of mine, lost his job because his company lost work orders from GM and then went under, I saw that the ripple effects of the auto industry collapsing would be disastrous.  But it turns out that the auto bailout wasn’t a socialist takeover, in fact it worked. Even The Economist (again, not exactly a pinko rag) issued an apology to Obama admitting that they were wrong and that the White House had made the right move. But this is one more thing that Obama has gotten no credit for.

The Stimulus

Stimulus is another word that’s supposed to be toxic this election year. My problem with it was that it was too small, but it has done some good. The CBO reported back in August

CBO, Aug. 24: CBO estimates that ARRA’s policies had the following effects in the second quarter of calendar year 2010:

• They raised real (inflation-adjusted) gross domestic product (GDP) by between 1.7 percent and 4.5 percent,
• Lowered the unemployment rate by between 0.7 percentage points and 1.8 percentage points,(and)
• Increased the number of people employed by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million.

It’s impossible to know for sure the total effects of the Stimulus, but we do know that it has created in between one and a half to three million jobs, and lowered unemployment. Now, unemployment has been the major critism of the Stimulus. The argument goes “If it worked, why is unemployment still high?” This chart is helpful in understanding the context of just how much of a hole we have to dig ourselves out of.

Just because we got ourselves into this mess quickly doesn’t mean we can dig our way out quickly. But if the stimulus has been at least helpful, why is it something so many are trying to avoid? Because republicans have done a great job of condemning it as wasteful spending while taking credit for what it accomplished it in their districts. Calling it socialism on the hill and then handing out giant stimulus checks back home.

Health Care Reform

I’ve written about this plenty before. But I’m still baffled as to why Democrats are running away from this accomplishment that they ran their campaigns on, will cover 97% of Americans, lower costs, and reduce the deficit. Especially when considering just how moderate this plan is. It was very similar to both Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts plan, and to the plans put for by Republicans in 1993, and was supported by the majority of the public.

Of course now, that bill is being called all kinds of things, even unconstitutional.

Lowering Taxes

If you ask a tea partier why they don’t like Obama, I’m sure “he raised taxes” will be in there some where. What’s ironic about this is that taxes are at their lowest rate since 1959 and the average tax rate has fallen 26% in the last three years. Obama has actually cut taxes for 95% of Americans. Individuals have received a $400 income tax cut, and couples an $800 one. But no one seems to notice. In fact, the stimulus is filled with tax cuts for small businesses.

But try telling that to these folks.

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