Passing The Right Stimulus Plan

Commonwealth Conservative ^ | 1/7/2009 | C. E. van Avery

[SolitarySaint]

An ongoing post over at Fabius Maximus on solutions to the current economic crisis has helped sharpen my thinking on the problem. In general, I would echo commenter R Hendrick's priorities:

1. Size alone is insufficient, as Prez Bush and Henry Pauson have now reproven. Effectiveness is equally as important as dollar volume.

2. Providing lending capacity when consumers and businesses want to borrow less won't be sufficient. Fiscal policy will be more effective in the near term, 2009 & perhaps even 2010, than currently overemphasized monetary tools. Similarly, tax cuts will be less effective than govt. spending as much of rebates would go to savings and imported goods while properly targeted govt. spending more often goes to domestic services.

3. Fiscal stimulus programs will have to be paid for later and spending must be focused where it can actually increase later tax revenues or decrease future national (not just govt.) costs, such as repairing needed roads & bridges, qualitatively better education, more cost-effective healthcare, etc. A good example of this would be extending unemployment benefits but requiring a quality, enforced remedial math/reading education component.

4. To both improve cost-effectiveness and lower inflation side-effect risks, the spending must be spread...

[screaminsunshine]

Hey! Wake up! There ain’t no stupid government program thats gonna save this mess. Bra! The Ponzi is busted. It is all coming down. 65 trillon is 330 k per household debt. 330 today. In two years it will be 500 k per household. No f’n way! Can’t anybody add? This is simple math.