Economist Voodoo Wrong Again

mid-afternoon on Thursday, the 12th of June 2008 by Chad

The stimulus checks are working. A big increase in retail sales signaled that people are spending their rebate payments, helping to ward off a serious economic slump, at least for now.

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that retail sales soared 1 percent last month, double what had been expected. It was the largest increase since November and represented strong sales at a variety of retailers including the biggest increase at department stores and other general merchandise stores in a year.

The May increase, double what economists had been expecting, provided the strongest evidence yet that the economy is getting a major boost from the $50 billion in economic stimulus payments the government sent out by the end of May, slightly less than half of the $106.7 billion scheduled to be sent out this year.

I’ve been hearing all year that the stimulus payments were completely useless, that it was a scam, etc. And now the data shows it is working? Now I can’t wait for the talking heads to start yammering about how the data isn’t right, that the growth would have been higher without the payments, or some such crap.

via the AP