Stimulus Performing as Expected

Watching The News Hour last night I was fortunate enough to catch Mark Zandi talking about the stimulus. You can listen to an audio recording of the segment here.

I found his comments refreshing as he seemed fairly non-political and well informed. This morning I located Mark's recent analysis (June 22nd, 2009) that explains his position in a bit more detail:

U.S. Fiscal Stimulus Revisited

• The stimulus that became law in February should reach its point of maximum economic benefit this summer.

• Most of the benefit so far comes from checks to state and local governments and expanded unemployment insurance benefits to workers.

• The plan is performing about as expected, but policymakers should be prepared to do more if the economy flags.

During the program last night Congressman Cantor (R - VA) repeatedly stated that the stimulus has failed solely because unemployment numbers have risen higher than expected. This seems to be a disingenuous attempt to criticize the President and the stimulus pack for the simple reason of obstruction but I acknowledge that he is probably doing what is expected of him by his party, if not his constituents.

It was continually pointed out by Congressman Van Hollen (D - MD) that the stimulus is a two year plan making it too early to gauge success. That being said Mr. Zandi's comments indicate that the plan, at this point, seems to be performing as expected regardless of any fear mongering.