Money Well Spent?, Michael Grabell
Money Well Spent?, Michael Grabell
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Money Well Spent?
The Truth behind the TrillionDollar Stimulus, the Biggest Economic Recovery Plan in History

Author: Michael Grabell

Narrator: William Hughes

Unabridged: 14 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/31/2012

Synopsis

The 2012 presidential campaign will, above all else, be a referendum on the Obama administrations handling of the financial crisis, recalling the period when Obamas audacity of hope met the austerity of reality. Central to this is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009the largest economic recovery plan in American history. Senator Mitch McConnell gave a taste of the enormity of the money committed: if you had spent $1 million a day since Jesus was born, it still would not add up to the price tag of the stimulus package. The story of how this almost entirely partisan piece of legislationDemocrats voted for it, Republicans against itwas passed and, more importantly, how the money was spent and to what effect, is known barely at all. Stepping outside the political fray, ProPublicas Michael Grabell offers a perceptive, balanced, and dramatic story of what happened to the taxpayers money, pursuing the big question through behindthescenes interviews and ontheground reporting in more than a dozen states across the country.

About Michael Grabell

Michael Grabell has been a reporter at ProPublica since 2008, producing stories for USA Today, Salon, NPR, MSNBC, and the CBS Evening News. Before joining ProPublica, he was a reporter at the Dallas Morning News. He has twice been a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists. He lives in New Jersey.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Phrodrick slowed his growing backlog on May 20, 2017

At the level of election politics Democrats and Republicans have been so effective at creating protected election boundaries that very few candidates from the left or right must listen to the other side or even recognize the middle ground on the way to elected office. Between Internet blogs,cable te......more

Goodreads review by Jon on August 07, 2012

Pretty much down the middle The stimulus saved and created jobs, we would be still be slogging through great depression type numbers without it. BUT, it missed the mark in several ways, was poorly designed (easy to say in hindsight) and demonstrates how good intentions don't turn into good policies.......more

Goodreads review by Steven on July 30, 2024

AN EXCELLENT ANALYSIS OF THE 2009 STIMULUS BILL Reporter Michael Grabell wrote in the Introduction to this 2012 book, "Could this be the time in history, I wondered, when the United States finally reversed its long industrial and middle-class decline? In researching this book I have traveled to fift......more

Goodreads review by Jim on September 27, 2012

This is a reasonably balanced book (both Democrats and Republican mis-statements of fact are noted) that lays out what happened in the attempt to simulate the U.S. Economy out of recession. Some spending was wise (infrastructure that mattered) and a lot was wasteful. As expected despite cries of "no......more

Goodreads review by Ken on June 21, 2012

The author is clearly a Keynesian thinker and pro-Obama. Despite that he does a pretty thorough job of detailing where the 'stimulus' money was spent and how much of it was wasted; the waste being what economists might call a 'mis-allocation of capital'. The most glaring omission is an accounting of......more

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