CBO’s views on the payout rate from infrastructure spending long predates this administration. Check the testimony of various CBO officials on its web site. They have repeatedly said that only about 25% of money is spent the first year after being made available for spending. That means after the proposal has been made, after the authorization has passed Congress, after the appropriation has been made and the fiscal year has begun, and after the relevant federal agency has certified that the project is in fact ready to begin. Given that most public works projects take more than a year to complete, why is it any surprise that only a fourth of the money is spent the first year?
–Bruce Bartlett. So, only one quarter of a Keynesian stimulus plan will come online the first year after Congress has appropriated it. By then, the economy may well be in recovery and by the time 100% of the stimulus money comes online, the economy will assuredly be expanding. We are about to take our budget deficit into the trillions and we will have nothing whatsoever to show for it.
Remind me again: Why are we entertaining the thought of Keynesian stimulus? (Bartlett link via Will Wilkinson.)
Moe Lane
Steve Maley
Dan McLaughlin
Neil Stevens
Daniel Horowitz
Semantics
loganedwards Tuesday, January 27th at 2:28AM EST (link)You quote Barlett: “the economy may well be in recovery”.
Well, maybe it will and maybe it won’t. You want to take the chance that we shouldn’t do anything and find ourselves in a second great depression? I don’t like throwing money at problems, but I don’t want 20% unemployment either and with the news I read today with another 80k unemployed, you shouldn’t want to take that chance either.
And please explain the “nothing whatsoever to show for it”. Please explain that. Is there pork in the bill? Of course, there’s always pork regardless of the administration. But to say there is nothing to show for it is intellectually dishonest and puts his entire framing in question.
Throwing money around is the wrong thing to do
enrique Tuesday, January 27th at 7:24AM EST (link)Just because we are slipping into a depression (if we haven’t already) and unemployment is rising is no reason to do dumb things like further ruin the economy. The Great Depression was made worse by failed economic policies like unwarranted wage and price controls and economic regulation and spending by the federal government.
Spending money on any infrastructure is the opposite thing that needs to be done. Paying people to dig holes and then fill them in will not hasten economic recovery but further slow recovery as more resources are pushed into nonproductive sectors of the economy.
Don’t just do something, stand there! The free market will correct itself if given the chance.
“There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one striking at the root.” Henry David Thoreau
Is there Pork in the bill?
Praying (Diary) Tuesday, January 27th at 8:51AM EST (link)Good Lord, the bill is nothing BUT pork!!! When pressed on how many jobs the bill would create, congress was unable to promise that it would create a single job. This bill is nothing but smoke and screens to push a liberal, radical social agenda, and republicans need to vote NAY or at the very least, vote PRESENT. There should not be a single solitary YEA vote from the GOP. Too many prominent economists have said it’s a bad idea, and it’s way too much $$ to spend with so many doubts and questions. Congress should just go take a 3 month break and let things settle down.
No!!!11!1!!1!1! The Bilderbergers are coming
Congress should just go take a 3 month break and let things settle down
izoneguy (Diary) Tuesday, January 27th at 9:02AM EST (link)How about they do nothing until 2010. They did nothing from 2006-2008. And how about Rush’s idea. A 54-46 split? The dems can have 540 Billion to blow and we get 460 Billion in tax cuts, business incentives, etc. Let’s see which side would produce more “stimulus”.
The point cannot be made often enough: Modern liberalism, as embodied in the Obama presidency, is the defender of the status quo. And the status quo is a road to economic ruin. Political forces cannot redistribute the wealth that the economic system does not produce.
Agree. Even better. A 2 year break
Praying (Diary) Tuesday, January 27th at 11:07PM EST (link)n/t
No!!!11!1!!1!1! The Bilderbergers are coming