GOP presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is now boasting the value of conservative economics, with a tweet noting that Canada's economy has performed much better than the United States in the global recession, and that it had no stimulus spending.
Just think -- a Republican who wants the U.S. to be more like Canada!
One problem: Canada did undertake a major stimulus program.
Bachmann's campaign tweeted earlier on Monday:
Lesson in economic recovery: Consider Canada. No stimulus & unemployment is 20% lower than US. is.gd/jxebtd #tcot #teaparty #canada
Indeed, Canada did push a significant stimulus package.
As Bloomberg reported in January 2009, this stimulus was CAN$40 billion, equal in then-current exchange rates to US$32.6 billion, over two years (a similar period as Obama's US$787 billion stimulus). If we make further adjustments, using IMF data for each country from the year 2008 for purchasing-power parity, per-capita GDP, and the much larger population of the United States, this would work out as very roughly equal to a stimulus of over US$360 billion if it were done here.
So relatively speaking, it was about half the size of the US package per capita. But don't tell Michele Bachmann, it didn't count as long as she thinks voters are too stupid to fact check.
Oh, and PS, Bachmann's little Tea Party shindig she threw in 2009? She used official House money for that, which is a big no-no.
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