Last week brought the surprising news that the national GDP jumped 3.5% over the last quarter, unleashing a torrent of stories declaring — or at least raising the possibility of declaring — that our long national economic nightmare may be finally coming to an end. As the Wall Street Journal noted in one report:

Gross domestic product expanded at a 3.5% seasonally adjusted annual rate in the quarter ended in September, a rise that leaned heavily on government spending. Some of the largest components of growth came from spending on cars and house building — two areas propped up by federal programs.

Without stimulus programs such as “cash for clunkers” and a first-time homebuyer’s credit, “real GDP would have risen little, if at all, this past quarter,” Christina Romer, president of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said in a statement.

Here in Indiana, federal spending also seems to be having a palpable impact on our economic health, as helpfully pointed out by a recent report from the independent federal board charged with tracking stimulus dollars:

The report showed about 640,300 jobs have been created or retained nationally since the stimulus package was passed in February. White House officials said when adding in jobs linked to $288 billion in tax cuts, the stimulus plan has created or saved more than 1 million jobs.

[...]

About $610 million went for basic school funding in June to help prop up the state budget that took effect July 1. That supported about 13,200 school jobs, according to the state summary. About $82 million more went to specific education programs, providing more than 2,000 jobs.

Two things of note here:

  1. This puts the self-congratulatory back-patting of Governor Mitch “I balance budgets in my sleep” Daniels, doesn’t it? As pointed out by Democrats at the time, his state spending plan was completely dependent upon federal spending that he has been loathe to embrace — except, of course, for when time comes to accept credit for new jobs.
  2. In a larger sense, the national Republican Party must be scared out of their already-questionable wits. They’ve pushed all of their chips in on the bet that the national economy will continue to languish and health care reform will die. Should they be wrong on both counts, it will be extremely difficult (if not impossible) for the Party of Palin to find much of a leg to stand on for the next few election cycles.