CBO estimates ARRA's effect on Q1

[we vs us]

Or, how the stimulus has affected the recovery, from the CBO: (via)

"CBO estimates that in the first quarter of calendar year
2010, ARRA's policies:

# Raised the level of real (inflation-adjusted) gross domestic product (GDP) by between 1.7 percent and 4.2 percent,

# Lowered the unemployment rate by between 0.7 percentage points and 1.5 percentage points,

# Increased the number of people employed by between 1.2 million and 2.8 million, and

# Increased the number of full-time-equivalent jobs by 1.8 million to 4.1 million compared with what those amounts would have been otherwise.

The effects of ARRA on output and employment are expected to increase further during calendar year 2010 but then diminish in 2011 and fade away by the end of 2012."

Definitely feathers the nest but a smaller effect overall than I expected.   This is good in one way (the recovery is less reliant on ARRA for sustenance) but bad in another (not quite nuclear enough to jolt us decisively out of the recession).

[sgrizzle]

# Increased the number of people employed by between 1.2 million and 2.8 million, and

CBO Estimates the total cost of ARRA at $787 Billion so that puts those jobs at somewhere between $281,071 and $655,833 for these positions, much of which are short-term.

The effects of ARRA on output and employment are expected to increase further during calendar year 2010 but then diminish in 2011 and fade away by the end of 2012."

CBO Estimates the costs of ARRA to continue until 2019