Re: the results
That's an interesting chart considering that by August of 2009, six months after the signing, less than ten percent of the spending portion of the stimulus money had even gone out. Was that sudden rate improvement six months earlier anticipatory hiring? Or just lucky timing?
(picture no. 220 from the old board's gallery, not restored)
At any rate, if you look at where the money actually went, most of it was political largesse spent on dozens of liberal wet dreams, not things to create permanent jobs that will still be there when the stimulus money is gone.
P.S. unfortunately the useful BLS chart images "expire" after a time. It's annoying, but you have to copy them and upload them to Wiki to keep them permanent.