Obama insists recovery cash has been worth it

NEW YORK - Facing a sceptical public and an implacable opposition, United States President Barack Obama insisted the US$787 billion ($1.1 trillion) financial stimulus plan signed into US law a year ago had been worth the money.

Marking the anniversary with a renewed effort to show the everyday benefits of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the President predicted it would save or create 1.5 million US jobs this year on top of 2 million last year.

Other members of his Administration fanned out across television studios to highlight public works projects funded by the stimulus bill, in a public relations battle that has implications beyond Obama's own popularity.

A nascent economic recovery is threatened by continuing high unemployment, which stands above 10 per cent, and the unpopularity of the first stimulus package is complicating efforts to pass a second "jobs bill" that is currently under negotiation in Congress.

Reflecting popular scepticism, vandals on the stimulus bill's Wikipedia page changed its title yesterday to "Big-Ass Slush Fund".

A recent poll found that only 6 per cent of Americans believe it has created jobs.

The Republican opposition has been marking the anniversary by sending out year-old White House projections that the unemployment rate would be kept below 8 per cent.

"It doesn't yet feel like much of a recovery, and I understand that," Obama conceded in a White House speech. "It's why we're going to continue to do everything in our power to turn this economy around."

But he insisted that stimulus spending had eliminated the threat of a second Great Depression and created conditions for recovery.

The bill earmarked money for tax cuts, infrastructure spending and other government programmes.

As the Administration published its first annual report on the legislation yesterday, Vice-President Joe Biden insisted taxpayers had "gotten their money's worth".

The ultimate cost will be borne over future years, since it was paid for by adding to the national debt, which now stands at US$12.4 trillion.

Significant controversy exists about how to measure the number of jobs "created or saved" by the stimulus bill.

According to figures provided by those who received grants and loans, 595,263 jobs were created or saved in the final three months of 2009, the White House claims.

A previous report, using a different calculation method, said it had saved 640,239 jobs in the prior quarter.

The independent Congressional Budget Office estimates that the financial package is responsible for employing up to 2.4 million people. The White House council of economic advisers calculates that between 1.5 and 2 million jobs have been saved or created by the legislation.

THE STIMULUSUS
* $179 billion in the plan has been spent.
* US$93 billion in tax cuts have been issued.
* US$154 billion is in the process of being sent out.
* US$862 billion cost revised by the Congressional Budget Office from US$787 billion last month.

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