This is a site that is independent of any government agency or politically-motivated interest group. For what I can tell, this is raw --- and sometimes *more* honest --- reporting of economic statistics that present a true reflection of the economic situation in the United States. You check out their credentials and judge for yourself.
Feel free to poke around at your leisure, but here are the highlights for 2010:
Unemployment: down, but not in "full" recovery mode yet.
Retail Sales: up overall, certain sectors' details below.
Grocery, beverage, health and personal care: steady gains all the way through the downturn, which is to be expected.
Car & gas: since Cash For Clunkers, solid and undisputed gains.
Clothing, books/music, internet retailers: Recovering nicely since 2009
Building supplies and durable goods: still in deep trouble.
Inflation: negligible by any and all measures.
GDP: showing growth not seen since the early Clinton years, and rivaled in recent years only by the Reagan massive-defense-spending-budget-busting-deficit-ballooning spending spree of 1981 - 84.
U.S. Dollar: broken out of the orchestrated free-fall of the G. W. Bush administration, though not quite "gaining" against other benchmark currencies yet.
Long and short: Stimulus, WORKING. Cash for Clunkers, MASSIVE SUCCESS. TARP, well you won't see these numbers showing it directly, but indirect and extrapolated data would indicate that it was, at worst, neutral. It was, after all, an attempt to prevent financial sector catastrophe. By that measure, it worked just fine.
So spew all you want, the facts say otherwise.??
- Tim
