0bama will claim that his stimulus headed off “A Second Great Depression.”
Like so many things he says, it’s just not so. IBD provides the details:
Did Obama Really Prevent A Second Great Depression?
By JOHN MERLINE, INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY
It has become a common refrain at the White House and among administration
supporters that President Obama’s aggressive efforts to stimulate growth prevented an economic catastrophe.“We had to hit the ground running and do everything we could to prevent a second Great Depression,” Obama told supporters last week.
Politically, the claim makes sense. Casting the challenge Obama faced as immense can help explain the economy’s lackluster performance in the two years since the recession officially ended.
But is it an accurate portrayal of what really happened?
IBD reviewed records of economic forecasts made just before Obama signed the stimulus bill into law, as well as economic data and monthly stimulus spending data from around that time, and reviews of the stimulus bill itself.
The conclusion is that in claiming to have staved off a Depression, the White House and its supporters seem to be engaging in a bit of historical revisionism.
I’m shocked, shocked, to hear that the President and his supporters are playng fast and loose with the truth.
Hat Tip: Glenn “Instapundit” Reynolds who comments:
In fact, it [the economy] did worse with the stimulus than they predicted it would do without a stimulus, but I don’t think this helps the White House’s case.
No, no it does not.
