Final answer:
The president's fiscal policies during the Great Recession included the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which were effective but their overall impact remains debated.
Step-by-step explanation:
The president utilized several fiscal policies during the Great Recession to stabilize prices and stimulate the economy. Key fiscal policy measures included the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, which facilitated the purchase of troubled assets, like mortgages, from financial institutions, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which increased government spending on infrastructure, provided tax cuts, and increased transfer payments. These measures, combined with monetary policies like lowering interest rates, aimed to boost aggregate demand and counteract the economic downturn.
Assessments of these policies have shown them to be effective to varying degrees. Economists such as Alan Blinder and Mark Zandi pointed out that GDP decline and job losses would have been significantly worse without these interventions. Additionally, forecasters adjusted their expectations positively once these policies were implemented, anticipating higher investment and economic growth. However, the overall effectiveness of these macroeconomic policies is still debated, and further study is necessary to fully understand their long-term impact on jobs, the U.S. budget and deficit, and the value of the U.S. dollar.