Exchange at the October 8, 2009
Ways and Means Subcommittee Hearing on the
Effectiveness of Democrats’ 2009 Stimulus Law

QUESTION: Rep. John Linder (R-GA), on the effectiveness of Democrats’ 2009 stimulus law:

             “How’s it working so far ?”

ANSWER: Lawrence Mishel, Economic Policy Institute (a Democrat-invited witness):

“I think it’s working amazingly well. We are creating two hundred to two hundred and fifty thousand jobs a month.”

REALITY:

Official Department of Labor payroll employment data show massive continued job destruction in the wake of the February 2009 stimulus law.  The table below compares the White House’s February 2009 projection of the number of jobs that would be created by the 2009 stimulus law (through the end of 2010) with the actual change in state payroll employment through August 2009 (the latest state-by-state figures currently available).  While Mr. Mishel’s statement might apply to the District of Colombia, the rest of the country has lost an alarming number of jobs – nearly 2.3 million in total.

  Source: Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost?ce

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