Pages

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

How The Stimulus Worked


Another view of the stimulus. "The Recovery Act jump-started clean energy in America, financing unprecedented investments in wind, solar, geothermal and other renewable sources of electricity. It advanced biofuels, electric vehicles and energy efficiency in every imaginable form. It helped fund the factories to build all that green stuff in the U.S., and research into the green technologies of tomorrow. It's the reason U.S. wind production has increased 145% since 2008 and solar installations have increased more than 1,200%. The stimulus is also the reason the use of electronic medical records has more than doubled in doctors' offices and almost quintupled in hospitals. It improved more than 110,000 miles of broadband infrastructure. It launched Race to the Top, the most ambitious national education reform in decades." Mike Grunwald in Time Magazine.


The unloved stimulus. "Should the Recovery Act have been larger? Sure. And a few people, like Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz, made the case at the time. But that would have been difficult, and quite possibly impossible, given the lack of political support on Capitol Hill. And even if the program wasn't big enough to create a strong recovery, it saved the country from a second Great Depression while funding transformative programs that will benefit America for decades to come." Danny Vinik in The New Republic.

Alan: What Obama has accomplished despite unprecedented opposition is miraculous.


No comments:

Post a Comment