In another rare moment of Republican honesty, former advisor to presidential-nominee John McCain Mark Zandi heralded the role the Recovery Act played in the 5.7% growth in the GDP during the fourth quarter of 2009.
I think stimulus was key to the 4th quarter. It was really critical to business fixed investment because there was a tax bonus depreciation in the stimulus that expired in December and juiced up fixed investment. And also, it was very critical to housing and residential investment because of the housing tax credit. And the decline in government spending would have been measurably greater without the money from the stimulus. So the stimulus was very, very important in the 4th quarter. Link
