The New York Times highlights a report from two prominent economists that indicates that the various Federal actions in the wake of the economic collapse substantially improved the situation.

In a new paper, the economists argue that without the Wall Street bailout, the bank stress tests, the emergency lending and asset purchases by the Federal Reserve, and the Obama administration’s fiscal stimulus program, the nation’s gross domestic product would be about 6.5 percent lower this year.

In addition, there would be about 8.5 million fewer jobs, on top of the more than 8 million already lost; and the economy would be experiencing deflation, instead of low inflation.

The paper, by Alan S. Blinder, a Princeton professor and former vice chairman of the Fed, and Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, represents a first stab at comprehensively estimating the effects of the economic policy responses of the last few years.

Another take on the report is available from David Leonhardt.

This is good news for Democrats heading into this fall’s election. However, the deniers on the right will no doubt refuse to accept any validity in the report.