>>8787351image footer = source: CBO
image numbers given in terms of U.S GDP.
World GDP does not figure centrally into the efficacy of the ARRA.
GDP does not track destroyed capital (you can burn, down a major city, rebuild it and your GDP goes "up")
States borrow not just from each other but from private citizens. They also "borrow" money by monetarizing the debt, which gives the illusion of expanding production despite a decline in purchasing power via inflation.
Saved or created jobs is UTTERLY MEANINGLESS as it is based on self-reported hypotheticals and the term has never been used before. Unemployment is still double digits and we have relatively little to show for billions upon billions of wasted money.
Most professional economists are idiots, and cannot define central concepts like Opportunity cost.
>>8787351image footer = source: CBO
image numbers given in terms of U.S GDP.