Jobless benefits do more spurs more recovery than tax breaks for the rich

[mookiemookie]

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's, has found that $1 in unemployment benefits generates $1.61 in economic activity. (That's the second most-stimulative form of government spending, behind food stamps.) A dollar in tax cuts—not just to the rich, but to everyone—generates about 32 cents.

I predict that every post railing against extending unemployment benefits will ignore this data and offer up nothing but rhetoric and ideology.

But facts are facts, and there it is in black and white. Extending unemployment benefits is indeed more stimulative than tax cuts. Discussion over.