All Posts Tagged With: "stimulus"
Did Obama’s “Stimulus” Create or Save Jobs?
The official line is that President Obama’s 2009 “stimulus” package (tax cuts and spending increases) “created or saved” more than 3.5 million jobs. Is that so? It depends on what you mean by created, saved, and jobs. It is certainly true that the federal government gave money to the states and localities, and some of [...]
13Sep2011 | Sheldon Richman | 4 comments | ContinuedWho Told Whom So?
From Mario Rizzo at ThinkMarkets: In recent months – or has it been years? – Paul Krugman and Brad DeLong have been saying, in effect, “We told you so – the stimulus was not enough. Look at the sluggish economy and high unemployment rate.” They are arguing that the problem with the fiscal stimulus is [...]
15Jun2011 | Sheldon Richman | 1 comment | ContinuedThe Canard of “Underutilized Resources”
Last November the Federal Open Market Committee announced plans to purchase, by printing money, $600 billion of long-term government bonds over the next 6 months. This “quantitative easing,” Fed Chairman Bernanke assures us, is necessary to aid an economy that is suffering from “a very high level of underutilization of resources.” In other words, there’s [...]
24Feb2011 | Tyler Watts | 1 comment | ContinuedPaying the Unemployed Does Not Stimulate an Economy
Many in Congress as well as the President and some of his economic advisers have argued that extending the period for paying the unemployed will stimulate the U.S. economy out of its sluggish performance. Would any of them consider as valid an argument that giving money out of their own pockets to an unemployed member [...]
24Nov2010 | James C. W. Ahiakpor | 17 comments | ContinuedThe Canard of “Underutilized Resources”
Despite the seductive logic of the Keynesian physicians, printing money is patent-medicine quackery that stands to do the patient more harm than good.
18Nov2010 | Tyler Watts | 6 comments | ContinuedThinking Twice about Doublethink
Admitting error and correcting course based on that admission is the real “third rail” of politics.
16Nov2010 | Sandy Ikeda | 4 comments | ContinuedAre We Headed for Deflation – or Inflation?
The inflation wolf may well be at the door, but we need to do a better job of explaining why the current situation exists.
15Sep2010 | William L. Anderson | 5 comments | ContinuedMr. Keynes’s Aggregates
Stimulus spending, bailouts, and extension of unemployment benefits only prevent the fundamental mechanisms of change from doing their work.
9Sep2010 | Steven Horwitz | 35 comments | ContinuedWill Infrastructure Repairs Cut Unemployment?
Whenever the economy is in recession, people claim we can “put America back to work by rebuilding the infrastructure.” So I am not surprised that President Obama has decided to continue the “infrastructure” mantra in his latest economic plan.
8Sep2010 | William L. Anderson | 4 comments | ContinuedDoes Malinvestment Matter?
With literally trillions of dollars having been spent for “stimulus,” the rate of unemployment hovers around 10 percent, many banks remain in a precarious state, and a meaningful economic recovery is as elusive as ever.
26May2010 | William L. Anderson | 9 comments | ContinuedProducing Jobs: Thoughts on Obama’s Plan for Small Businesses
The ears of small business America must have perked up when President Obama spoke about that critically important sector in his State of the Union address. Mine certainly did. Here’s when it really got interesting: “I’m . . . proposing a new small business tax credit—one that will go to over one million small businesses [...]
20May2010 | Bruce Yandle | 2 comments | ContinuedThe Myth of the Model
Most people don’t notice it, but “model” may be the most dangerous word in the English language right now. Models justify a lot of the bad policies that have been, or soon will be, foisted on us. For example, what was used to justify the fiscal policy of the big “stimulus”? That’s right. And as [...]
20May2010 | Max Borders | 37 comments | ContinuedWhy Did the “Stimulus” Fail to Help the Economy?
Attempts to “stimulate” the economy through massive government spending may put money into the pockets of politically connected people, but it does nothing to restore the economic factors to their proper balances.
20Jan2010 | William L. Anderson | 28 comments | ContinuedJob Growth to Return in Spring, Geitner Says
“Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says he believes it’s reasonable to expect “positive job growth” by spring and that people should have confidence about an improving economic climate.” (AP, Wednesday) Just in time for Congress to kill it with a round of tax increases. FEE Timely Classic: “Why Government Can’t Create Jobs” by Mark Ahlseen
23Dec2009 | Mike Van Winkle | 0 comments | ContinuedHouse Passes Mini-Stimulus
“The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a $155 billion measure that seeks to create jobs and blunt the impact of the worst recession since the 1930s. By a vote of 217 to 212, the House approved additional spending for ‘shovel-ready’ construction projects and money to avoid layoffs of teachers, police and other public [...]
17Dec2009 | Mike Van Winkle | 1 comment | ContinuedCongress Passes $1 Trillion Stimulus Spending Bill
“The Senate on Sunday sent President Obama another hot potato, passing a $1.1 trillion catchall spending bill that includes money needed to run dozens of government agencies but also is loaded with pork-barrel spending. “The bill, which funds most domestic federal agencies for the rest of this fiscal year, marks a 12 percent spending increase. [...]
14Dec2009 | Mike Van Winkle | 0 comments | ContinuedObama: We Must Spend Our Way Out of This Recession
“President Barack Obama outlined new multibillion-dollar stimulus and jobs proposals Tuesday, saying the nation must continue to ‘spend our way out of this recession’ until more Americans are back at work. “Without giving a price tag, Obama proposed a package of new spending for highway, bridge and other infrastructure projects, deeper tax breaks for small [...]
9Dec2009 | Mike Van Winkle | 4 comments | Continued-
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