Obama's "Failed Stimulus"

I'm getting sick and tired of everyone referring to Obama's "failed stimulus".

But what really bugs me is that almost no one is bothering to point out that the stimulus actually prevented the Second Great Depression.

The vast majority of economists agree that the economy needed stimulus, funded by deficit-spending.

And they were right.

(In looking at that graph, note that Obama signed the 'Recovery Act' in February of 2009).

I understand that the recovery wasn't as strong as that flouted by Obama's advisers when they were trying to pass the bill. I get it. Either the economists were wrong. Or they over-stated their case in order to get the legislation passed. Just like Colin Powell "over-stated" the evidence for WMDs, and President Bush "over-stated" the need to give $1 trillion to Wall Street in September of 2008 with no strings attached.

If McCain had won, he surely would have signed a large stimulus bill in his first month in office, just like Obama did. And it would have had similar results to the bill Obama signed.

And every Republican would have been touting the brilliant policy signed by President McCain in order to pull us out of the Bush Tailspin. The only reason everyone with an '(R)' next to their name hates the stimulus so much is because it was done on Obama's watch.

(And of course we'd be in better shape now if Bush had signed a similar bill before leaving office, instead of borrowing from the next generation to write a big check to Wall Street).

Even three years after the death of Lehman Brothers, conservative publications like The Economist are still recommending "short-term stimulus and medium-term deficit reduction". In other words, the 2009 stimulus was too small.

Can we step back from the political bickering for a minute to actually think about what's best for the country? The GOP isn't stupid. They know the economy needed stimulus, and still needs stimulus. But they also know that if the unemployment rate stays above 9%, they might beat Obama in 2012. If it wasn't hurting real people, I would applaud the ingenuity of this strategy.

2011 Offensive Line Rankings

Based on career stats for all active linemen (adjusted for age, and weighted for recent performance and injuries) here are ratings for the current offensive lines for all 32 NFL teams. For individual ratings for each offensive lineman, you can download this year's version of Football Mogul, which is 100% free (no time limits or registration required).

Rank	Team	Overall	Run Blocking	Pass Blocking	2010 Rank
1	New Orleans Saints	94	94	94	1
2	Carolina Panthers	92.5	98	87	4
3	Tennessee Titans	89	85	93	2
4	Minnesota Vikings	87.5	95	80	10
5	New England Patriots	87	82	92	5
6	Baltimore Ravens	86.5	90	83	7
7	Atlanta Falcons	85.5	81	90	6
8	Denver Broncos	85.5	86	85	14
9	Cincinnati Bengals	85.0	79	91	16
10	New York Jets	84.5	84	85	3
11	Buffalo Bills	84.5	89	80	26
12	New York Giants	84.0	79	89	13
13	Houston Texans	83.5	79	88	20
14	San Diego Chargers	83.5	76	91	19
15	Dallas Cowboys	83.5	85	82	9
16	San Francisco 49ers	83.0	85	81	18
17	Philadelphia Eagles	83.0	84	82	21
18	Arizona Cardinals	82.5	81	84	11
19	Green Bay Packers	82.0	86	78	22
20	Detroit Lions	81.5	81	82	28
21	Oakland Raiders	81.5	83	80	29
22	Jacksonville Jaguars	81.0	86	76	17
23	Miami Dolphins	81.0	86	76	8
24	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	80.5	76	85	25
25	Cleveland Browns	80.0	76	84	15
26	Chicago Bears	79.0	77	81	24
27	Pittsburgh Steelers	78.5	83	74	27
28	Kansas City Chiefs	78.5	80	77	23
29	Indianapolis Colts	77.0	74	80	12
30	Seattle Seahawks	73.0	75	71	30
31	Washington Redskins	73.0	76	70	32
32	St. Louis Rams	72.0	76	68	31