U.S. President Barack Obama said Wednesday that the 787-billion-dollar stimulus package that he signed a year ago prevented another Great Depression while creating or preserving 2 million jobs.
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U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at a Democratic National Committee fundraising reception in Washington February 4, 2010
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Speaking on the first anniversary of the American Recovery and Investment Act (Recovery Act), Obama said that "it is largely thanks to the stimulus package, the second Depression is no longer a possibility."
KEY ACHIEVEMENTS
According to the White House's documents, the Recovery Act has been working in various aspects during the past one year. Here are some key numbers.
On job creation, the White House said that data from the nonpartisan Congress Budget Office showed that the Recovery Act is already responsible for as many as 2.4 million jobs through the end of 2009.
Analysis by the government's Council of Economic Advisers found that the Recovery Act is responsible for about 2 million jobs. This figure is in line with estimates from private forecasters like IHS Global, Moody's Economy and even the conservative American Enterprise Institute.
On economic growth, in the fourth quarter of 2009, the economy grew 5.7 percent -- the largest gain in six years and something many economists say is largely due to the Recovery Act. Before the Recovery Act, the economy was shrinking by about 6 percent.
On spending, the White House said that nearly 70 percent of the 499 billion dollars in Recovery Act spending has been obligated to specific programs and projects so far, putting those dollars to work in communities across the country.
On infrastructure construction, the document showed that over 12,500 transportation construction projects -- ranging from highway construction to airport improvement projects -- have been funded so far. Of those, more than 8,500 are already underway across the country -- with even more breaking ground as the weather warms up.
The Obama administration also cut taxes. It said that nearly 120 billion dollars in tax relief has been provided for working families and businesses through the Recovery Act this year.
CRITICS REMAIN
Although the economy regained growth, critics said that American people did not feel the recovery.
Millions of Americans are still in need of work and "millions more are still struggling to pay bills, " Obama acknowledged.
Obama also said that current economic conditions don't "feel much like a recovery" to those who are still hurting.
The President's chief economic adviser Lawrence Summer said recently that the GDP growth is "a statistic recovery but a human recession."
Republicans argue that the stimulus plan has been a failure, given that unemployment remains at 9.7 percent, and they brand the program an example of bloated government and wasteful spending that taxpayers abhor.
"Taxpayers aren't getting their money's worth from the trillion- dollar 'stimulus' and struggling families and small businesses are rightly asking 'where are the jobs?'" said the top House Republican John Boehner.
The United States has lost an astounding 8.4 million jobs since this recession began in December 2007.
And the rising federal debt is another major issue that opponents target the Obama administration.
According to the 2011 fiscal budget plan that Obama proposed to the Congress earlier this month, the federal deficit in fiscal year 2010 ending in September will hit a record high of 1.56 trillion dollars.
But Obama made repeated references to how well, in his view, his government has done with the stimulus.
"There has never been a program of this scale, moved at this speed, that has been enacted as effectively and as transparently as the recovery act," Obama added. Referring to Vice President Joe Biden and the other top aides, Obama said, "This team has done an outstanding job."
Biden, who has led the stimulus implementation, took his own swipe at critics. "They're unwilling to step up," he said. "Well not us."
Obama said that the Recovery Act is on target to save or create another 1.5 million jobs in 2010.
"Our work is far from over," Obama said. He vowed his administration will do "everything in our power to turn this economy around." ./.