Obama’s Failing Stimulus Plan: More Than 2.7 Million Jobs Lost

On Friday, President Obama boldly stated that his stimulus bill has been:

…a major force in breaking the trajectory of this recession and stimulating growth and hiring.

The enormous $787 billion stimulus plan was signed in February 2009.  The New York Times reported that in February:

The unemployment rate surged to 8.1 percent, from 7.6 percent in January, its highest level in a quarter-century.

On a radio address in late January 2009, Obama claimed that his stimulus plan must be passed in order to reverse the increasing unemployment trends:

Experts agree that if nothing is done, the unemployment rate could reach double digits. If we do not act boldly and swiftly, a bad situation could become dramatically worse.

However, since the passing of the stimulus plan, the unemployment rate has continued to rise at an alarming rate.  In October, the unemployment rate reached double digits with the stimulus plan in effect.

The following graph shows the outrageous number of job losses throughout 2009:

 On Friday, the Associated Press reported:

Gripped by uncertainty over the economic recovery, employers chopped 85,000 jobs last month, and difficulty finding work helped chase more than half a million people out of the job market. The unemployment rate held steady at 10 percent. It did not creep higher only because so many people stopped looking for work and are technically not counted as unemployed.

The truth of the matter is that the stimulus plan has not provided any economic relief.  Americans are still waiting on the growth and hiring that the stimulus plan was intended to boost. According to radio host Ed Morrissey:

Not only did the stimulus plan not work, the unemployment actually rose faster with the ‘recovery plan’ in place than the Obama administration predicted unemployment would rise without it.

 Unless Obama intended to lose 2.7 million jobs and prolong the recession, his wasteful stimulus plan should be deemed a failure.