Posted on 02/14/2009 6:29:23 PM PST by Publius804
Obama's pyrrhic victory on the stimulus package
As the fiscal stimulus saga draws to a close, we can ask what this opening salvo of the Obama presidency means economically, politically, and internationally.
The economic range of reactions to the stimulus can be oversimplified into three camps. The first camp could be called the Scientific Keynesians, with Paul Krugman at their forefront. This group typically looks at what the economy is capable of producing, subtracts what it is likely to produce in this slump, and identifies the difference as a gap to be filled. They have confidence that it's possible to bring spending online in a timely fashion and fine-tune the amounts so as to produce the requisite growth and jobs. They tend to view the $789 billion package as woefully inadequate (it doesn't fill the gap) and have been highly critical.
A second group could be called the Cost-Benefit Covey. For them, federal spending is neither good nor bad, per se. It depends what it costs and what it will do. In a time of low interest rates and idle workers, there may be projects that are worthwhile that would not pass the test when the economy is humming. But the number of such projects is limited. As Larry Summers put it, this group is looking for spending that will be "timely, targeted, and temporary." Even if there were a $1.2 trillion output gap, that does not mean so much can be spent wisely in the time the gap remains open. Members of this loosely-defined group have criticized the stimulus plan as excessive and wasteful. They are not prone to embrace John Maynard Keynes' idea that we might just as well employ people to dig holes and fill them again.
(Excerpt) Read more at shadow.foreignpolicy.com ...
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If this was such a crisis can anyone tell me why Obama didn't stick around to sign it last night. Instead ...what does he do? He takes a 4 day vacation. Can anyone tell me why this could not have been put out for review and voted on Tue?
I want to see these Marxists bring this country to the brink of a complete and total breakdown. Then, and only then, will the sheeple wake from their sleep and vote the Conservatives back in.
But...OTOH, why is it that the only time the Conservatives can unite and get their collective act together is when they are in the minority (like 1994)? Once they get back into power, they spend like liberals.
Well, see, the emergency wasn’t enough to inconvenience Congress from taking its scheduled recess. Nancy had reservations for her flight to Europe and an audience with the Pope. We can’t cut into that time, can we?
My understanding is that there is nothing left now but they continue to print trillions of dollars anyway. My God, I feel like I’m trapped in a bad Twilight Zone episode and can’t escape.
The civil war or revolution that is certain to follow may not happen in my life time, but I pray my children or grand children will avenge me.
Upon my death bed I shall declare to all democrats, socialists and communists who managed to destroy the nation I spent 25 years defending:
"From hell's heart, I stab at thee. For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee."
Ah, let ‘em eat cake.
One of the earliest pyrrhic victories was claimed by Sampson from the Bible. It wasn’t fire but it definitely brought down the house.;o)
I'm betting up to 30 years old, minus the 10% who really have decent parents and a clue.
Nothing is left. But they are still looting it.
like...really major victory man. Like, total victory...ya dig?
Oxymoron
My husband was in Walmart yesterday and overhead some employees discussing the Bill. They were unhappy that there was “nothing in it for them”.
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