THE JOBS BILL

Pres. Obama's proposal seems to have widespread support among the economic pundits:

 - Mark Zandi at Moody's Analytics thinks the bill will add about 1.9 million jobs and grow the economy by 2 percent.

- The Economic Policy Institute is very upbeat:

Overall the package would increase employment by about 4.3 million jobs over the next couple of years. The new initiatives would boost employment by about 2.6 million jobs, while the continuation of the two temporary provisions (EUI and the payroll tax holiday) would prevent a backslide of over 1.6 million jobs.

- Justin Wolfers at FREAKONOMICS also thinks it's pretty good:

- It’s reasonably big, at about 3% of GDP.
- It’s reasonably front-loaded.
- It’s reasonably well targeted.
- It’s reasonably well designed.
- It’s reasonably timely.
- It’s reasonably well focused.
- It’s reasonably evidence-based

- Goldman Sachs:"Thus, if enacted in its entirety, this proposal could shift the fiscal impulse in 2012 from -1.1% of GDP to +0.4% of GDP."