Economist agree with voters--Stimulus not so hot

Washington Times Editorial:

Talk about overstating a weak case. President Obama has asserted incessantly that "virtually all" or "all" economists agree that the $862 billion in government stimulus spending was necessary to fix the sputtering economy and that the largesse has spurred a recovery. Hold your horses, Mr. President. If the views of experts in the "dismal science" really matter, a new poll of economists should give pause to White House propagandists.

Conducted between March 25 and April 10 by the National Association for Business Economics, the survey of the nation's business economists found that a whopping 73 percent "reported the fiscal stimulus enacted in February 2009 has had no impact on employment to date." Similarly, the newly enacted, if misleadingly titled, "jobs bill" was viewed as ineffectual, too, with 68 percent of economists saying they thought there was no impact.

Overall, economists consider the economy to be starting to improve but say the improvement has nothing to do with the stimulus. Rather, any upturn is simply part of a normal rebound. Most economists forecast that the economy finally will grow this year. Of those economists surveyed, 70 percent said they think the economy will expand by at least 2 percent this year, but only 24 percent said they think the economy will grow by at least 3 percent.

...

Roughly the same percentage of voters also think the expensive stimulus was a bust. This is another reason why the Democrats new theme of getting things done is so laughable. When you add the stimulus bust, with the health care monstrosity and a lot of voters do not like what the Democrats are getting done.

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