Sep
29
A pledge to the GOP
BY BAN ANSELMINO
Columnist
Ah, the Republicans. The party behind such gems as “Help! Mom! There are liberals under my bed!” has released another manual, “A Pledge to America,” just last week and it’s brimming with cynicism in the arena Republicans like most: the economy. The document would have us believe that we’ll all be eating cardboard and shoes by the end of the year if we don’t vote Republican.
Actually, the economy has seen worse. We have regained nearly 725,000 jobs since the highest point of unemployment. The current unemployment rate is 9.6 percent, and new applications for unemployment have dropped 8 percent since July. And the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) actually seems to be working.
The Congressional Budget Office is required by law to discuss the reported jobs affected by the stimulus bill at the end of each quarter, and in their recent report they note several interesting observations.
In the second quarter of 2010, ARRA seems to have caused a GDP increase of 1.5 to 4.5 percent, lowered unemployment by between 0.7 to 1.8 percent, increased the number of people employed by as much as 3.3 million, and increased jobs equivalent to full-time work by 2 to 4.8 million. Unfortunately, it is also noted that ARRA can only help so much. The CBO estimates that the effect of ARRA on the economy is probably going to decline gradually for the next several years, but not before giving critics ample time to convert their lifesavings to gold.
But with the upcoming elections it would hardly be surprising if propaganda from either party makes the rounds online. Many people are worried about healthcare reform and tax-cuts/hikes from the current administration despite Obama’s “promises” he tosses around like candy. If anyone wants to check this out it’s posted on the gop.gov website.
Anselmino can be reached at
anselminbr@mnstate.edu
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