5 Years Later - What Did Obama's "American Recovery & Reinvestment Act" Achieve? | Zero Hedge

5 Years Later - What Did Obama's "American Recovery & Reinvestment Act" Achieve? | Zero Hedge: The 17th of February, 2014, marked the annual observation of George Washington's birthday and the 5th anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Given that is has been half a decade since President Obama signed that bill into law, it would not surprise me if you did not immediately recognize what it entailed. However, the term "Government Bailout" will certainly jolt your recollection.

The WSJ penned a great opener:

"The $830 billion spending blowout was sold by the White House as a way to keep unemployment from rising above 8%. But the stimulus would fail on its own terms. 2009 marked the first of four straight years when unemployment averaged more than 8%. And of course the unemployment rate would have been even worse in those years and still today if so many people had not quit the labor force, driving labor-participation rates to 1970s levels."

Given that Governments are generally the worst allocators of capital it should come as no real surprise that the money was squandered on non-productive investments.

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