From the inbox:
Output of goods and services grew at a 3.5 percent annual rate, faster than economists expected, according to preliminary figures from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Even so, it will be months before job-seekers begin to feel the benefits.
Parts of the stimulus arrived around the time that growth began. If you fully attribute the growth to stimulus spending then divide the additional GDP in the 3rd quarter by the additional stimulus money allocated I'll send a bumper sticker to the first reader than posts a link showing this being done in the comments section). The other extreme is to say that the 3.5% growth would have happened anyway and the stimulus spending was unnecessary.
It should be fun to read the blogs (i.e., Krugman, Mankiw, Thoma) today.
