Why do right-wingers trust right-wing media figures claims about the stimulus more than economist?

Right-wing media talking heads and others on the right say there was no possitive impact from the stimulus but economist say there was.

The stimulus, consisted of $288 billion in tax breaks to individuals and businesses.
$226 billion for projects such as new roads and high-speed rail.
$273 billion in payments to state governments.

It is unrealistic to say that out of the billions the states received that those states did not create any jobs. States do not have things like their own construction companies or asphalt companies. They take bids for private companies.

The Congressional Budget Office, as well three private-sector economic-analysis firms studied how many jobs were created.

CBO: Between 800,000 jobs and 2.4 million jobs.

IHS/Global Insight: 1.25 million jobs

Macroeconomic Advisers: 1.06 million jobs

Moody's economy.com: 1.59 million jobs

“While the ultimate success of the stimulus package will be debated for years, we believe that the general structure of the plan was constructive. The stimulus plan needed to be large because the economic problem was enormous; diversified because it is not clear exactly what would work, and relatively prolonged because the economy looked to be weakened for several years. The Obama administration acted quickly and boldly in combating the economic downturn with fiscal stimulus, sending a message that it would actively use policy to right the economy. The Administration deserves credit for getting the economic priorities right and for stimulus design.” The Brookings Institution

"The real economy also responded to the massive stimulus but remained heavily dependent on it. In the United States, growth during the second half of 2009 probably averaged about 3 percent. Absent temporary fiscal stimulus and inventory rebuilding, which taken together added about 4 percentage points to U.S. growth, the economy would have contracted at about a 1 percent annual rate during the second half of 2009." ~The American Enterprise Institute (AE)

If you are a Conservative you know what The American Enterprise Institute is.


Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics and former adviser to John McCain’s presidential campaign, and Alan Blinder, a Princeton University economist and former economic adviser to President Bill Clinton, modeled the past and what might have happened without the much-derided government responses.

Their findings: “Effects on real Gross Domestic Product, jobs and inflation are huge, and probably averted what could have been called Great Depression 2.0. For example, we estimate that, without the government’s response, GDP in 2010 would be about 6.5 percent lower, payroll employment would be less by some 8.5 million jobs, and the nation would now be experiencing deflation.”

The report notes that the bailout and federal loans had a deeper effect than stimulus spending, but that the stimulus added 2.7 million jobs to a limping economy and raised GDP by a full 2 percent.