Did the 2009 Stimulus Actually Work

In this episode, we explore did the 2009 stimulus actually work. You know, usually when we talk about a medical diagnosis, there is this expectation of precision. Right, yeah, like it's binary. Exactly, it's like engineering. You break your arm, the x -ray shows that jagged white line, and the doctor just points and says, there it is. Broken or not broken, it's clean and honestly it's comforting. We like things to be visible and easily categorized. We really do. But then you step into the world of global economics during a massive crisis and suddenly that x -ray machine is completely murky. Oh, total. You can't just point to a single broken bone when the entire system is shutting down. So today, we are grabbing the ultimate medical chart for the 2008 financial crash. And we are using one comprehensive source for this. Right. We're using the comprehensive Wikipedia article on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Which have ever wondered why your doctor spends half the appointment typing into a laptop now instead of writing on a paper chart, this 2009 stimulus bill is a major reason why. And speaking of hidden lifelines, We really have to look at the $53 .6 billion that went directly to local school districts. Oh, right. That is a prime example of the state and local relief portion. Because states, unlike the federal government... generally aren't allowed to run massive deficits, right? If state tax revenues collapse during a recession, they're legally required to balance their budget. Exactly. They have to slash spending immediately. And education is a huge part of state budgets. So that $53 billion wasn't necessarily to hire thousands of new extra teachers. It was just a patch. It was just to prevent the mass layoffs of the teachers who are already in the classrooms. Without the federal