Let me preface my comments.I do not like Obama or his marxist policies. However, some parts did work. Cash for clunkers did sell a lot of cars. Maybe not the way they intended but dealers cleaned up lots of inventory.
The new/existing home buyer tax credit sold houses. New home sales were UP 26 % from last year. The tax credit on energy star appliances is selling out in hours. The tax credit on wood & pellet stoves has increased business for those retailers. The nice thing about a tax credit is that you actually have to pay taxes to get the credit.
Most of the stimulus was wasted. However, if you throw out enough cash something had to work.
Yes, in the same way that cutting off your legs "works" for weight loss.
Yep, anytime an entity spews 787 billion (the equivalent to WalMart's yearly revenues times TWO) all over a country, some money is bound to find its way into the right hands.
Problem is, there's nothing really lasting being done with it.
I was yakking with a guy on FR about this the other day. Comparing BO's stimulus to FDR. While I like neither of them, at least when FDR was finished, there was something to show for it - dams, bridges, the rural electrification project.
In 10 years, the legacy of BO's stimulus will be a bunch of 10 year old cars, and refrigerators that need replacing.
Cash for clunkers did sell a lot of cars.
It's not far enough along in the buying cycle to have the true results of the house credit, but cash for clunkers didn't sell any more cars, it sold them sooner.
Eventually every dollar the government spends has to be backed by taking a dollar from someone who earned it through honest productivity. If the government spends $10 to finance $1 dollar’s worth of new productivity it is still a $9 dollar loss from the overall wealth of the nation. The real wealth is productivity not cash.
Some parts are edible.
And from what a read, the biggest majority of cars sold under the program were foreign models. Whoo-hooo!!!!!
Home sales are not up. That’s a lie. There is nothing holding Wall Street up but The Marxist Onada’s hot air. There is not one credible economic indicator that points to anything but more recession as far as the eye can see. It is simply impossible to have 15% unemployment—and continuing to rise—and have a recovery. I would like to know who it is that’s spending enough money to create the kind of demand it would take for inventories to be turned and cause manufacturing to ramp up. Oh, and given the unemployment situation who exactly is it whose buying all these homes? With foreclosure rates not diminishing one iota, how can anyone but an ideologically motivated partisan realy believe Onada’s crap numbers?
Oh, and looky what our benevolent Marxist has waiting in the wings for us: VAT, tax and trade, Onadacare, higher gasoline prices, soaring deficits to name a few. Upshot: Even people with jobs will have precious little left to spend after our Marxist Dear Leader gets done with us.
“Let me preface my comments.I do not like Obama or his marxist policies. However, some parts did work. Cash for clunkers did sell a lot of cars. Maybe not the way they intended but dealers cleaned up lots of inventory.”
A large part of the sales are just stolen demand. The auto cash for clunkers was mostly sales from future demand. I have heard talk in the real estate industry about a slump after the tax credit expires. The appliance rebate also seems sales stolen from future demand.
I am not sure if the tax credits are refundable. If they are refundable, you can lower your tax liability below 0 with a refund.
There is also some evidence that these types of tax credits also encourage customers with weak finances to spend recklessly.
The stimulus goes beyond vote buying with tax credits. The stimulus includes rebates beyond the tax credits. In Colorado, the stimulus money provided rebates beginning on April 19. These rebates are available to anyone regardeless of tax liability and residency. Even illegal aliens can receive these rebates. These rebates are in addition to rebates provided by the local utility and federal tax credits.
The stimulus might have helped some of those industries in the short term, but how does one assess the long-term impact of money taken from one sector to supposedly help another? The money not taken from taxpayers for those programs might have helped some other area of the economy. What we are trying to avoid is corporatism i.e. the government favoring some industries over others. I doubt government can do nearly as well by intention what the market can do unplanned.