Mark Zandi: Obama plan would add 1.9 million jobs

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, is frequently the go-to guy for both parties when it comes to analysis of various jobs proposals. So, what did he think of President Obama’s speech last night? Here’s the report: “The plan would add 2 percentage points to GDP growth next year, add 1.9 million jobs, and cut the unemployment rate by a percentage point.”

To be sure, Zandi is not totally smitten with the plan, arguing that it doesn’t adequately deal with the “ongoing foreclosure crisis and housing slump”—two things, he writes, that are “major impediments to the recovery.” On the bright side, it “would go along way toward stabilizing confidence, forestalling another recession, and jump-starting a self-sustaining economic expansion.”

The Wall Street Journal has some more reactions from economists on Obama’s proposals. Here are Goldman Sachs’ forecasters: “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. However, it is not yet clear how congressional Republicans will respond to the proposal, and we are not changing any of our estimates at this time.” Those are some crucial caveats right there.