Wondering why unemployment is still high despite the stimulus plan?

August 8, 2012 Tom Cuthbert

Me too...

The chart below (via @businessinsider) shows three lines:

The incoming Obama Administration's projections for what the unemployment rate would be if no stimulus was enacted in the depths of the financial crisis (light blue).
The Obama Administration's projections for what the unemployment rate would be with the President's stimulus plan (dark blue).
The actual unemployment rate (it's now 8.3%).

The actual unemployment rate in the chart, you will note, is much higher than the "nightmare scenario" initially envisioned by the Obama Administration (with no stimulus). In either case--stimulus or no stimulus--the unemployment rate was supposed to be down to 5.5% by now. And it's actually still 8.3%.

Eric Platt/Business Insider, Data: Bureau of Labor Statistics, "The Job Impact of the America Recovery & Reinvestment Plan," 2009, Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein for the President's Council of Economic Advisers