‘Let’s set the record straight’
EDITOR:
In a recent letter to the editor, Mr. Foust makes many dubious claims and conclusions about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal.
Let’s set the record straight on the accomplishments of the ARRA and the administration of President Obama.
We can then be confident that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal will bring many benefits to the American people.
In fact, the ARRA was very successful and only about 1-percent of the approximately $800 billion was attributed to waste and fraud (source: NPR). The Obama administration inherited the Great Recession from the preceding Republican administration, an economy almost as bad as the Great Depression. The ARRA and policies of the Obama administration saved our economy and country. In 2009, the unemployment rate in the U.S. was 10 percent; in November 2016, the unemployment rate was 4.6 percent (source: www.bls.gov). The ARRA raised the U.S. GDP by more than 3-percent in 2010 and generated almost 6 million job-years (years of full-time equivalent employment) through the end of 2013.
