STIMULUS WATCH: CBO Says Actual Price Tag Is $814B

CBO has revised its cost estimate for a third time.

• Stimulus Archive

From last week:

• STIMULUS ABUSE: Coburn & McCain Release New Report Detailing Wasteful Projects That Don't Create Jobs

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• Source

Last week the Congressional Budget Office released updated budget projections — a treasure trove of information for budget wonks. For example, CBO released new estimates of the direct budget costs of the 2009 stimulus bill, officially known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

CBO now estimates that ARRA will cost $814 billion from 2009 through 2019. That’s up from the original $787 billion estimate, but down from the revised, $862 billion estimate released in January.

Spending exceeded original expectations because both unemployment and food prices rose more than anticipated, driving up the cost of extended unemployment benefits and expanded food stamp benefits. On the other hand, spending estimates have come down because “recently enacted legislation rescinded some of the funds appropriated in ARRA and limited the period in which higher payments under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program [formerly known as food stamps] will be available.” (CBO did not update estimates for the tax provisions in ARRA.)

For a discussion of why the $814 billion figure (formerly known as the $862 billion figure or the $787 billion figure) is not really the right measure of stimulus, see this post.

On a related note: Earlier today, CBO released an updated analysis of the economic effects of ARRA. It estimates that ARRA reduced unemployment in the current quarter by 0.8 to 2.0 percentage points. In other words, without the stimulus CBO believes that the unemployment rate today would be between 10.3 percent and 11.5 percent, not the 9.5 percent reported in July.

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Comments

[DailyBail]

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2013683,00.html

Biden loves the stimulus...

[DailyBail]

It pays to riot in Europe

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/ambroseevans-pritchard/100007444/it-pays-to-riot-in-europe/

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

[Z]

"The next phase of the crisis will see revenge by all those who have already taken a big hit, or expect to do so: whether under water on their mortgages, unemployed, dependent on health support, or state employees. Democracy will have its way."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/7964328/Fresh-flight-to-Swiss-franc-as-Europes-bond-strains-return.html

"There have been plenty of episodes in history where governments use "financial repression" to wriggle out of debts, including Franklin Roosevelt’s revocation of gold clauses in US bond contracts in 1934, and Chancellor Hugh Dalton’s perpetual debt issue at an artificially-low 2.5pc in 1946."