It didn't work if you judge it by the employment numbers promised. In fact, if you use that criteria (which the administration touted for support of the plan) it was an abject failure. If you judge the fiscal stimulus on top of the $4 Trillion the Fed printed and all we got was this horrific economy, then "failure" paints too bright a picture.
Hocus pocus: meaningless talk or activity, often designed to draw attention away from and disguise what is actually happening.
It came up short, it was not an "abject failure". Most economists have rated it a partial success, to varying degrees. And the present economy is not "horrific". The Great Depression was much closer to that, here, and overseas and history provides much better examples of "horrific" economies.
If you want hocus pocus, you should see some of my magic tricks. I can amaze you. And, I could perform "magic" that would remove every dollar from your pocket if we were betting. (Yes, I could...don't even try to dispute me on this.) And, this is how our so-called government works. The only problem is that "magic" isn't really magic. But, people "buy" into scams as if it is real. "Magic" isn't magic, but if one is skilled enough he can deceive others very easily.
Precisely. Like trying to simplify the difference between household and government finance to "1 + 0 = 1".
Again, if you judge it by the employment numbers it was supposed to generate, it missed by a long shot. Abject failure. Economists that refer to it as a "partial success" are viewing it by other metrics. As for the present economy, you aren't unemployed for years, or on food stamps, or paying sky rocketing rent. It's easy to say it's not horrific from your liberal limo lifestyle.
This chart hasn't been updated in a long time (probably because people realized what a waste of time it would have been). But these numbers were never, ever close to where they were "supposed to be". They still aren't. A 47% miss by any financial standard is an abject failure.