In a New York Times news item this morning that has since been changed, the reporters state:

Another 3.8 million U.S. workers filed jobless claims last week, despite trillions of dollars in stimulus spending.

Despite? No. I would bet that about half or more of the 3.8 million filed jobless claims because of the “stimulus spending.” Or, more particularly, because of one element of the spending: namely the added $600 per week in unemployment benefits on top of the regular state government unemployment benefits.

I wrote about that at some length here and pointed it out on March 25 when there was a slim chance of overturning this anti-work part of the bill. Those extra benefits last until the end of July.

For that reason alone, I’m confident that the economic recovery won’t begin until August.