8-4-10: Counting on Stimulus

Amid news of sluggish second-quarter growth, the Obama administration put on its game face Friday and rolled out the latest data on the mammoth stimulus spending package.

Vice President Biden announced over 755,000 jobs being paid for with stimulus money from April through June of this year, up from about 682,000 for the first quarter.

Maryand reported 8,730 jobs paid for with stimulus money this quarter; last quarter it was 6,728. An estimated 210,000 Marylanders are currently unemployed and looking for work.

Advocates say we need more of the spending, and we need to start thinking about what happens when the money runs out. Critics say the stimulus has done little to bring the country out of the Great Recession.

Sheilah talks to one of each: Neil Bergsman, the director of the Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute; and John Walters, a research associate at the Maryland Public Policy Institute.

Links to John Walters’ writing at MPPI’s website

Recovery Watch Maryland’s report “Maryland Faces a Budget ‘Cliff’ as Recovery Funding Runs Out”