rssDouglas Holtz-Eakin: ‘No One Would Argue That the Stimulus Has Done Nothing’
Friday, August 07, 2009 at 2:33 pm
- 13 Comments
Republicans are pushing back hard against today’s unemployment report, which showed a lowerr-than-expected 247,000 new jobless and the overall unemployment rate falling 0.1 points to 9.4 percent. Former McCain campaign economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin spoke to reporters on a Republican National Committee-sponsored call to make the wonk’s case against reading too much into the report
“No real earnings growth in this report that would suggest sustained upward growth in this economy,” Holtz-Eakin said. “It cannot be considered good news that people left the labor force. If not for that, the unemployment rate might have creeped up to 9.6 percent, is my guess.”
Holtz-Eakin challenged Democratic rhetoric about the effect their policies have had in mitigating economic problems, though he allowed that “no one would argue that the stimulus has done nothing.” The problem: Some Republicans have argued exactly that. In February, Dick Armey, the former House GOP majority leader who now leads FreedomWorks, predicted that the stimulus would actually worsen the economic picture. “Taking money out of the private economy,” Armey wrote, “either through taxes or inflation… and spending it in a way that doesn’t offset the loss of money with real economic gains is worse than doing nothing.” In July, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), the GOP’s whip in the Senate, suggested canceling the rest of the stimulus in a column that ran down the ways it seemed, to him, to be failing and wasting money.
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13 Comments
Pingback posted August 8, 2009 @ 10:00 am
[...] said that the new data “cannot be considered good news,” he claimed that “no one would argue that the stimulus has done nothing.” But earlier this week, RNC Chairman Michael Steele said just that, before catching himself [...]
Pingback posted August 8, 2009 @ 2:40 pm
[...] The Washington Independent » Douglas Holtz-Eakin: ‘No One Would Argue That the Stimulus Has Done …: Former McCain campaign economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin spoke to reporters on a Republican National Committee-sponsored call to make the wonk’s case against reading too much into the report. “No real earnings growth in this report that would suggest sustained upward growth in this economy,” Holtz-Eakin said. “It cannot be considered good news that people left the labor force. If not for that, the unemployment rate might have creeped up to 9.6 percent, is my guess.” Holtz-Eakin challenged Democratic rhetoric about the effect their policies have had in mitigating economic problems, though he allowed that “no one would argue that the stimulus has done nothing.” [...]
Pingback posted August 9, 2009 @ 1:04 pm
[...] said that the new data “cannot be considered good news,” he claimed that “no one would argue that the stimulus has done nothing.” But earlier this week, RNC Chairman Michael Steele said just that, before catching himself [...]
Pingback posted August 12, 2009 @ 1:19 am
[...] [...]
Comment posted August 19, 2009 @ 2:37 pm
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Comment posted August 19, 2009 @ 2:38 pm
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Comment posted August 19, 2009 @ 2:40 pm
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Everything dynamic and very positively!
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I think I will try to recommend this post to my friends and family, cuz it’s really helpful.
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Just wanted to say great job with the blog, today is my first visit here and I’ve enjoyed reading your posts so far
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Pingback posted August 23, 2009 @ 1:58 am
[...] stimulus impracticable despite the strong macroeconomic case for this (and endemic Republican bad faith), the resultant negative economic impact drags the Democrats down. ‘Pragmatic’ [...]
Pingback posted September 18, 2009 @ 12:00 pm
[...] David Weigel, August 7, 2009: Douglas Holtz-Eakin: ‘No One Would Argue That the Stimulus Has Done …: Republicans are pushing back hard against today’s unemployment report, which showed a lowerr-than-expected 247,000 new jobless and the overall unemployment rate falling 0.1 points to 9.4 percent…. Holtz-Eakin challenged Democratic rhetoric about the effect their policies have had in mitigating economic problems, though he allowed that “no one would argue that the stimulus has done nothing”… [...]
Pingback posted September 18, 2009 @ 12:15 pm
[...] David Weigel, August 7, 2009: Douglas Holtz-Eakin: ‘No One Would Argue That the Stimulus Has D…: Republicans are pushing back hard against today’s unemployment report, which showed a lowerr-than-expected 247,000 new jobless and the overall unemployment rate falling 0.1 points to 9.4 percent…. Holtz-Eakin challenged Democratic rhetoric about the effect their policies have had in mitigating economic problems, though he allowed that “no one would argue that the stimulus has done nothing”… [...]
Pingback posted October 5, 2009 @ 10:18 pm
[...] From The Washington Independent, 7 August 2009: Republicans are pushing back hard against today’s unemployment report, which [...]
Pingback posted December 8, 2009 @ 2:11 pm
[...] that girl. (Note to the tangerine-hued Minority Leader: even a former McCain campaign economist has said, “no one would argue that the stimulus has done [...]
Pingback posted December 15, 2010 @ 3:34 am
[...] it was headed. Even Doug Holtz-Eakin, John McCain’s top economic adviser in the campaign, admitted it last year. Spending in the public sector can prop up the private sector, and cutting back federal deficit [...]
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