The Obama Stimulus Plan: Just Say No

We don't need a stimulus bill that doesn't stimulate, and only serves to expand the reach and power of our federal government. We can't afford to waste hundreds of billions of dollars on something that is being sold as so urgent that we don't have time to weed out the pork, and the bridges and roads to nowhere. We should just say NO.

Even the CBO says it's a complete waste of money.

President Obama's economic recovery package will actually hurt the economy more in the long run than if he were to do nothing, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday.

CBO, the official scorekeepers for legislation, said the House and Senate bills will help in the short term but result in so much government debt that within a few years they would crowd out private investment, actually leading to a lower Gross Domestic Product over the next 10 years than if the government had done nothing.

Comments

[jepittman:]

I think the market clearly wants and expects a stimulus bill. If it were to be cancelled the shock would send the market back to the lows of last fall and possibly below. So the risk IMO is worth taking. It will expand the deficit but if the economy recovers the future tax reciepts will offset much of it.

In any case the stimulus bill is coming and there is not much any of us can do except buy, sell,or hold. We make our choices and take our chances.

I enjoy your posts. Keep 'em coming.

Feb 06 11:49 AM

[gaillje:]

It's quite easy to criticise but have you got a beter solution ??? As jepittman
says if the plan is not adopted watch out the stock market ????????? tumbling domwn whith all the consequances !!

I don't understand those ...smart..experts ... saying it's not what's needed,but have we hurd of their solution ,,NO

Feb 07 08:12 AM

[Ferdinand E...:]

Gaillje, 'they' have no solutions! During the depression most observers started out in Franklin Roosevelt's corner - the dislike came during his second term, when word went around that he was a "traitor to his class" .The solution 'they' have/had now was to elect a man who talked about a hundred years of war, although the war(s) that he meant - in Iraq and Afghanistan - had been won years ago. Not exactly what you would call intelligent, is it?

Feb 07 09:01 AM

[cfal:]

The "stimulus" is not a stimulus plan but a big pork program advancing socialism. To stimulate the economy we need tax cuts, not rebates, and spending that is not built into baseline budget. For long term growth the government needs to be reduced not expanded.

Feb 07 11:31 AM

[Sasha B:]

Think about it this way. You have a kid. He still lives with you, despite the fact that he is old enough to get a job. He smokes pot, has credit card debt and is in no way motivated to change. How do you "help" him or actually help yourself and kick him out? You pay down his credit card debt, maybe help with downpayment on a car or a house, put him in school and arrange a few job interviews for him. In other words you take the lead and support him to do things that are right.
The question is if you are the president of the United States and you have a very good kid called US nation, how do you make sure the nation gets over its problems? You ease short-term pressures and show the means of long-term success.

And what happens if you don't do something like that ... well I'm sure you know a few examples of what happens from you own life.

Feb 07 12:13 PM

[jepittman:]

I think you will find that tax cuts will be part of the package. While they may not target the socioeconomic groups you prefer they will be stimulative to the economy. As for 'pork', there certainly will be some but again, the goal is to stimulate demand for goods and services. No one is going to get everything they want but at the end of the day if the package addresses the bad assets held by the banks and stops the price declines in housing then more normal lending can resume with less fear of more writedowns. The credit markets must return to normalcy or there will be a much longer and deeper recession. Fortunately this appears to be occuring (see LIBOR, bond spreads, etc.). The stimulus package will hasten the recovery, possibly at the expense of higher inflation. But that is down the road and a worry for another day.


On Feb 07 11:31 AM cfal wrote:

> The "stimulus" is not a stimulus plan but a big pork program advancing
> socialism. To stimulate the economy we need tax cuts, not rebates,
> and spending that is not built into baseline budget. For long term
> growth the government needs to be reduced not expanded.

Feb 07 12:20 PM

[a. palmer jr.:]

Yeah, the way to heal a broken economic plan is with more reckless spending. That'll get our economy back to basically where it is now plus we'll have several trillions of dollars of debt to eventually pay back. I know our country has had deficits for years but eventually bond holders (like myself) eventually want their money!
Since most readers want solutions; how about we make an example of the Madoffs of the world and actually throw his ass and others in jail?

Feb 07 03:12 PM

[Duude:]

I can read tea leaves too, and I'm telling you initial reaction from the market will be appear supportive of a stimulus bill, but the market will later be described as fickle when they turn on this bill later. I think the problem here is the administation's attempt to tend to the symptoms with this bill. Our economy can't be repaired with a number of new government jobs and union infrastructure jobs added over the next 6 years. Keeping one's eye on the ball means continuing the work on repairing the credit markets. They have experienced some thawing but much more remains to be done. These jobs Obama is seeking to create won't change the credit markets and without a fully operating credit market we will all need to seek federal employment in the future.

Feb 07 06:03 PM

[Hmm?!:]

Yes Gaillje I do have a better solution.

Fight the pork! Only spend money on real stimulus items before you call it a stimulus bill.

For stimulus to truly work you have to at least recover all the money spent, and pay all the interest. Then you have truly made an investment in America. If there is any pork we are never going to get our money back or stop digging the debt hole.

If there were no pork and congress was forced to wait until they truly had solutions. We would get real stimulus. Congress would have to work and it would take them forever to spend our money. All good!

Otherwise we are just digging a deeper hole. With the help of a bunch of congressional freeloaders who don't even pay their taxes.


On Feb 07 08:12 AM gaillje wrote:

> It's quite easy to criticise but have you got a beter solution ???
> As jepittman
> says if the plan is not adopted watch out the stock market ?????????
> tumbling domwn whith all the consequances !!
>
> I don't understand those ...smart..experts ... saying it's not what's
> needed,but have we hurd of their solution ,,NO

Feb 08 12:52 AM

[smallgovt:]

Firstly, you are dishonest if you label this spending bill a stimulus bill because the only thing it stimulates is government. secondly, the market wants to be left alone -remember it was clinton and his cronies who forced bad loans on banks "to be fair" - "everyone should own a home" - ohhhh boo hoo - i can't afford a home so the goverment needs to force a free loan that i still can't afford... boo hooo


On Feb 06 11:49 AM jepittman wrote:

> I think the market clearly wants and expects a stimulus bill. If
> it were to be cancelled the shock would send the market back to the
> lows of last fall and possibly below. So the risk IMO is worth taking.
> It will expand the deficit but if the economy recovers the future
> tax reciepts will offset much of it.
>
> In any case the stimulus bill is coming and there is not much any
> of us can do except buy, sell,or hold. We make our choices and take
> our chances.
>
> I enjoy your posts. Keep 'em coming.

Feb 09 07:24 PM