Mark Zandi: Boehner Was Wrong, Stimulus 'Did Exactly What It Was Intended To' (VIDEO)

Joining the backlash against House Minority leader John Boehner's (R-Ohio) economic speech yesterday, Mark Zandi, Moody's chief economist, said Boehner was "just wrong" to call the $787 billion stimulus spending "a failure."

If there was no stimulus at all, Zandi said, unemployment would be at around 11.5% rather than 9.5%.

"I think if we had not had the stimulus, estimates put forward by the Congressional Budget Office are absolutely right: we'd have 2.5-3 million fewer jobs than we'd have today," he said at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast briefing this morning.

What needs to change are people's expectations, he said. "The stimulus did exactly what it was intended to do. It was intended to end the recession, jump-start the economy, and it did that," said Zandi, who has advised both Obama and John McCain in the past.

As Zandi points out, the government spent "a minor amount" of stimulus money in the first quarter, which jumped to $100 billion in the second quarter and another $100 billion in the third quarter.

"It's that key change that provides the economic juice...that's when the recession ended," Zandi said. "This is why the benefits of stimulus are fading, because we've gone from $100 billion in spending to zero."

In another excerpt from the briefing which you can view below, Zandi said unemployment could reach up to 10 percent by November elections.

"We need 150,000 in monthly payroll gains to stabilize unemployment. We're running at 100,000 at best, probably south of that at the moment," he said. "The math, the arithmetic is clear: unemployment is going to rise."

So when can we expect to see those 8 million lost jobs again? "It'll probably take 5 years."

WATCH Zandi's remarks at the Christian Science Monitor breakfast here:

Comments

[Nerdiac]

08:27 PM on 08/27/2010

Of course he was wrong, he's BOEHNER. If we did an article every time Boehner was wrong about something, we'd have to start a whole new website. "HuffnPuff Post"

[macchugsid]

12:53 PM on 08/27/2010

I say that if the Conservatives are so sure that all of these policies would fail why not just say yes and prove it. Then they can come back and say "I told you so" with a straight face and regain power easily.

I truly believe that they will not do it because they know it WILL work and they will look like a bunch of corporate stooges.

This country has survived a lot worse administrations than this one (Herbert Hoover, GWB). If their (Conservatives) policies were that sure fire they would have no problem cleaning up the mess after regaining power from the Democrats.

People in this country need to stop being so selfish and start looking out for the country as a whole. If we all survive we all thrive. I do not want handouts. I want a job that pays a fair wage for a days work. The fact that so much wealth is concentrated in so few hands tells me that is not happening.

Why would a Wal-Mart not want to give all of its employees better benefits? It is not as if the shareholders or the Waltons would be unable to pay their bills if they did. No one wants to face the fact that what drives this is pure unadulterated GREED. Plain and simple!

Unfettered capitalism is what these people want just to feed that GREED. "I have mine and screw everyone else" is EVIL. Check your bibles if you have one.

[emma richmond]

11:04 AM on 08/27/2010

We would like know what part of the Earth is Boehner is living on, it was Monday or last Friday Boehn Governor of Ohio came out and said his State is doing very good, Boehner State got 1.5 Billions Dollars from the Federal Government Stimulus Funds, yet Bohner get on TV and Lie and then he might not know what's going on in his Distract, this is what President Obama was talking about all these Republicans Bashed the Stimulus yet they are at these Ribbon Cutting Ceremony laughing from ear to ear off the Sweat of the President, the Democrats and the Obama Administration, all they did was sit back and say no, every last one of these States, received Billions of Dollars from the Stimulus, Alaska Got Billions, maybe the President should hold back until they say it helped, a lot of States not a shame to say the Stimulus really helped them. So John Boehner don't know what's going around him.

[belogical2010]

08:58 PM on 08/26/2010

I guess it depends on the definition of works. i would say delay is a better word. Give time to the banks and corporate America. the only ones who didn't get time was the people and small business who lost jobs and income and had no time to brace

[MetrointheWoods]

07:35 PM on 08/26/2010

Why do we care what Mark Zandi says? At best, he's a below average economist whose ineptitude led to inaccurate ratings on junk securities; it's his JOB to know what he did was wrong.

Every time we hear him speaking nowadays, it's in a political context. That makes him a surrogate who is just hedging his bets on the chance he gets Larry Summers' job.

[Kevin O'Connor]

04:55 PM on 08/26/2010

Moody's is part of the government sanctioned oligopoly of rating services which are EXTREMELY profitable. Moody's made almost $700 million in profit last year and we know what a great job they did "rating" bonds. Of course he's not going to bite the hand that feeds him.

[rshrink]

09:18 PM on 08/26/2010

What hand is feeding him? It doesn't sound like he is saying really great things, so if he isn't going to bite, he also isn't going to rub lotion on that hand.

[yeaobama]

01:52 PM on 08/26/2010

TIME MAGAZINE SAYS THE STIM IS A SUCCESS.
ALTERNATIVE ENERGY INVESTMENTS ARE PARTNERING GOVT. WITH THE PRIVATE SECTOR.
DOES ANYONE HERE BELIEVE BOENER WOULD ADMIT THIS????
THE OIL INDUSTRY IS GETTING THE COMPETITION IT HAS LONG CRUSHED!

[DUSAA-1775]

08:44 PM on 09/14/2010

I believe that I have asked 3-4 times for you to stop shouting. Many more also must have chimed in also. And yet you continue. Why do you feel it is necessary to shout out every moronic thought that pops into your head?
Time mag says the stim was a success? So freakin' what??

[h23154]

11:23 AM on 08/26/2010

If he is right about unemployment rates in November expect a Dem bloodbath in the mid-terms. Fair or not, they will get it in the neck.

[LightShadow62]

05:56 PM on 08/26/2010

The best thing the Dems can do is to show the truth of the GOPs participation in governing over the last 20 months. Remind the people how many times the GOP has voted NO on programs to help the average citizen.

[Mark Twaine]

11:22 AM on 08/26/2010

Without martinis lieing gives Boehner dry mouth!

[verycold]

10:12 AM on 08/26/2010

"If there was no stimulus at all, Zandi said, unemployment would be at around 11.5% rather than 9.5%."

Oops....what about the promise that with this stimulus the unemployment would remain under 8 percent.

Zandi was McCain's economic adviser. Hmmmmm. McCain has readily admitted that the economy was not his forte. That omission means he probably couldn't pick an economist either since he wouldn't know when he was being snowed.

That being said, Obama was suppose to know more than McCain on this issue and yet somehow he picked Zandi, Summers, and Geithner that clearly have been snowing us for a couple years now.

Also to suggest that the stimulus did what was intended is just plain untrue. We were told that countless "shovel ready" projects, much like the infrastructure improvement during the depression, would immediately commence. The truth is many quality shovel ready jobs were never engineered not ready to go. So the low hanging fruit got the money and often as as been illustrated by several senators were worthless projects. In my state 7 tiny brides to nowhere got the money. Meanwhile the east coast is littered with crumbling bridges that haven't seen a penny of that stimulus money.

Zandi and the others need to go.

[picaman]

02:44 PM on 08/26/2010

You believe politicians when they make promises?
"Read my lips; no new taxes!"

[Figerre]

05:54 PM on 08/26/2010

that was actually made before the economic data was clarified to the new administration. there was some delay during confirmation filibusters and hold ups. Course - no one appears to remember all that filibuster thingy because they all blame it on Jan 20, 2009, whether or not Obama had his team at desks or not.

[reverence]

10:10 AM on 08/26/2010

If you still have cops on the streets, fire fighters showing up at house fires, car accidents, etc. and your child is not going to be in an over crowded classroom, because there will be an appropriate number of teachers to meet your child's attention and educational needs then you are a witness of the stimulus working. Many of these people have been able to keep their jobs because of the stimulus. Because of that they are able to continue to spend money, which is necessary to get the economy moving. In my area we are witnessing road construction, and bridge construction, the opening of two businesses that have put a great deal of people in the area to work including our teens. Also, we are witnessing neighbors adding on to their homes and doing many other home improvements. Traveling across the country our family witnessed much of the same. It is rediculous to belive that one stimulus was going to create a miracle that was somehow going to erase all the damage that was done. It is the middle class, blue collar workers that spend money, not those of us in the upper one or two percent, who use our tax cuts to invest and make more money. We have no interest or not enough income to start a business. We are too busy enjoying what we have and don't want the headaches. How many small businesses did Boehner create? They LIE!

[MyResponsibility]

09:30 AM on 08/26/2010

Nobody knows what the unemployment would have been without the "stimulus", it is unquantifiable. but what is known is that the president promised that the stimulus would prevent the unemployment rate from exceeding 8%. So "it did exactly what it was intended to do" is about as wrong as it gets.

[Raccoon1]

09:55 AM on 08/26/2010

He "promosed"?? Please tell me where and when he 'promised'. You sound like an eight-year-old. But, but, but, you promised. GWB 'promised' mission accomplished in Iraq, that he'd be a uniter - not a divider, he 'promised' to be a president for all of the people - not just his 'base' - the wealthy, he promised to cut spending, he promised to have a conservative foreign policy. 'But, but, but, you PROMISED. Grow up.

[MyResponsibility]

11:08 AM on 08/26/2010

Fine, you want to quibble about semantics. Even HuffPo used the word "promise" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/08/obamas-stimulus-promise-m_n_212420.html. Fine, Obama "said" the stimulus would keep the unemployment rate below 8% (at the time it was at 7.6%), and said (er, promised, according tho HuffPo) that it would save or create 600,000 jobs by summer's end, that didn't happen.

GWB was a piss-poor president, that cannot be denied, but he never promised "mission accomplished" meant that we were done in Iraq. That's the position of the progressive spin-meisters. The 2003 invasion of Iraq had a period known as "major combat operations," as does every war. It is inarguable that the "major combat operations" ended on May 1, 2003. After this point, the military took a security role, no sorties were flown, no cruise missiles, no bombers, no tanks taking positions, etc. That mission had been accomplished - to topple Saddam. Then onto the 2nd, 3rd, 4rth, etc. mission, each having a beginning and ending.

So, I stick with my original post, that to state that the stimulus did what it was supposed to do is false, as evidenced by a 9.5% unemployment rate, continually falling home prices, and on the brink of a a "double-dip" recession (BS, we didn't get out of the first) and a growing number of individuals who are no longer counted in the unemployment numbers. So you're willing to agree that the stimulus worked

[Keith Ward]

11:06 AM on 08/26/2010

Fact check? Show us ANY valid source where he stated that number.

[MyResponsibility]

11:34 AM on 08/26/2010

I'll back off my word "promise." But he did "say" that the stimulus would keep unemployment under 8%. Words do mean something, right? Of course, he couldn't get the stimulus passed if he said, "Ya know, I really don't know what the stimulus will do, but lets throw some money at it and see what happens." He assigned numbers - 600,000 jobs by end of summer 2009 and a peak of 8% unemployment, to get it passed. So, how did he do?

Does NPR work for you? http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106397685.

Or how about the web site of the then President-elect Barack Obama http://change.gov/agenda/economy_agenda/.

Or, The Hill http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/57335-white-house-defends-stimulus-despite-job-figures.

[lordhelpusall]

09:28 AM on 08/26/2010

Wow....Good to hear that the trillion dollar stimulus was so successful? Does that mean we can ignore those cries for another stimulus?

[Raccoon1]

10:08 AM on 08/26/2010

But you're OK with the trillion dollar bailout for Wall Street?

[lordhelpusall]

11:03 AM on 08/26/2010

I'm not ok with a bailout for anybody. If wallstreet was failing, let them fail!

[Cantinflas]

09:27 AM on 08/26/2010

The stimulus didn't fail. Boener's precious private sector did.

[rshrink]

01:12 PM on 08/28/2010

That is hitting it spot on.

[PJ M]

09:16 AM on 08/26/2010

John Boehner's Compassionate Conservatism..

Boehner is not even sure if his three brothers are working .....

google is wonderful thing !!!