On Mon, Apr 26, 2010 at 4:50 PM, Judah McAuley <[email protected]> wrote:
> > I would have liked to see a stronger stimulus plan. Economists argued > that in order to see a substantial effect, it would have had to have > been a larger percentage of GDP, which makes sense to me. But on the > other hand, it is an experiment and I can understand not wanting to > take a bigger risk. You spend enough to really nudge the economy > (which is a big beast indeed) and you are running a bigger risk. If it > doesn't pay off, there isn't revenue growth to cover the bet, just > like with the bailouts there was the risk that loans aren't getting > repaid and stock won't be worth anything. So instead of going big, > they made a bet to cover the spread and seem to have been rewarded > with a minimal return. Hopefully things will chug back along and get > on track but my bearish instincts tell me that without the bigger > nudge, recovery is going to be slow going indeed. > Very good analysis. But I would suggest that a "substantial effect" is not what we should have been going after in this stimulus. Just something to keep us from bottoming out too low. Because when growth does occur, it shouldn't be because of outrageous government spending...it should be because the staples of our economy are back healthy again: consumers. I think Bush at the end of his Prez, and then Obama at the beginning of his, managed this crisis pretty well...which makes sense, because they were being advised by some of the same people, right? Government didn't so much stimulate the economy as they kept it on life support until it could start healing itself....which is exactly the role it should take, in my opinion. -- I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:316735 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
