Obama's Stimulus Finally Gets Some Respect

Economists are still fighting about whether the economic stimulus was too small, or too big and wasteful, but a consensus is emerging, at least, that the $787 billion package, flawed as it is, is working. With a quarter of the money now spent, the New York Times says a broad range of economists agree that the combination of tax cuts and spending—rather than one or the other, which would have pleased either liberals or conservatives more—has been effective in creating and saving jobs.

President Obama is still vulnerable to the criticism that he underestimated the recession and overestimated the impact of the stimulus. But there is broad consensus that it boosted the economic recovery, says the Times. “Without the stimulus, GDP would still be negative and unemployment would be firmly over 11%," says one. "And there are a little over 1.1 million more jobs out there as of October than would have been out there without the stimulus.”