Just How Expensive Will This Useless Political (and Bipartisan) Symbolism Be?
Personally, I am against any stimulus package.
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, are taking the lead in Capitol Hill negotiations, with the centerpiece of the measure expected to be a tax rebate similar to, but bigger than, the $300-$600 checks sent out in the summer of 2001.
The
motivations here are really political, not economic. Even if a full 1% of GDP - around $150 billion - is spent on this misguided B-S, it is not going to do much for the economy, which is driven by consumer spending. (Approximately 2/3 of GDP comes from consumer spending.) So if when I get my rebate check for up to $800, my intended use for it - putting it all in my Roth IRA - is not what the government would want me to do. Tough. I will act in my perceived best-interest, and I don't perceive spending my rebate on a new TV as being nearly as good for me as saving it for retirement. Many will act this way, just as they did in 2001.
Oh, and don't expect this magical economic tonic
to arrive soon:
- Peter Orszag, director of the Congressional Budget Office, said today that the earliest such checks could be mailed out in mid May or June.
Remember, our government continues to operate in the red. So we are borrowing this money. When you are drowning in red ink, borrowing more is not a good idea. Just like the drunk who goes ahead and has that 8th beer before driving home, this is stupid. But that has never stopped the US before, no matter which party is in power. This would be the second time the "conservative" Bush has done this. Clinton went down the economic stimulus road, too. Remember the promise to follow PAY-GO when the Democrats were elected? (Don't gloat Repubs, your party has spent like a drunken liberal Democratic sailor for quite some time now.) How did that work out? Nobody wins elections telling people what they need to hear - they win when they promise the drunks more drinks. This nation is going to spend itself out of global relevance, though many readers here will be old or dead by then. That's no excuse and does not serve our kids or eventual grand-kids well.
