After Stonewalling Obama’s Jobs Package, Republicans Complain About GDP Growth

[ProSense]

After Stonewalling Obama’s Jobs Package, Republicans Complain About GDP Growth

By Pat Garofalo

New data released today shows that the U.S. economy grew by 1.5 percent last quarter, following a revised increase of 2 percent in the first quarter. Republicans, of course, leaped on the middling number, with Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) calling it “a troubling sign for the future of our economy.”

But GOP’ers neglect to mention that they repeatedly filibustered President Obama’s American Jobs Act in the Senate, after several independent economic analysts estimated that the bill would boost GDP by one to three percent.

– Goldman Sachs economists estimated that the AJA would increase GDP by 1.5 percent, before any multiplier effects.

– Thomas Lam, of the economic advisory firm OSK-DMG, estimated that the bill would boost GDP by 1.8 percent.

– Macroeconomic Advisers estimated that the boost would be 1.3 percent.

– Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Economy, put the boost at 2 percent of GDP.

– The Economic Policy Institute estimated that the new initiatives in the AJA would increase GDP by 1.9 percent, while policy extensions it included would increase GDP by another 1.4 percent.

- more -

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/07/27/596751/gdp-jobs-act/

Krugman: The Hobbled Recovery
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021030374

[JaneQPublic]

1. Economy before/after the 2010 election

Dems really need to hammer home the point that the economy was really starting to take off when we had both the House and the Senate (although without a filibuster-proof majority) but that it fizzled once the GOPers took over the House after the 2010 elections.