On the first anniversary of the stimulus bill, the Washington of absolutes is on display--Obama's "Yes We Can" vs. the GOP's "No You Don't" with little space for the reality of mixed results and mixed feelings about a huge enterprise to save a crashing economy.
"Anniversary of Stimulus Met with Praise and Scorn" is the headline of ProPublica, noting that, in judging whether the stimulus has worked, "where you stand depends on where you sit."
The public-interest journalism organization is getting much less attention for efforts to report on what is actually happening than the partisan conclusions of Vice President Biden that "we have served the American people well” and House Leader Boehner labeling of the results as "dismal."
The media are divided as well. A New York Times analysis emphasizes that "the best-known economic research firms...estimate that the bill has added 1.6 million to 1.8 million jobs so far and that its ultimate impact will be roughly 2.5 million jobs. The Congressional Budget Office, an independent agency, considers these estimates to be conservative."
But the Wall Street Journal finds that “instead of spurring recovery, this spending spree has retarded it by frightening the public and business about future tax increases and the rising burden of public debt."
In this closed-minded climate, Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank sees benefits for "a crucial sector of the economy: critics of the package, who right now are enjoying record production levels and full employment. This burgeoning industry of conservative lawmakers, political operatives, think tanks and media outlets has benefited enormously from the legislation."
As it always is nowadays, hypocrisy is rampant. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs yesterday nailed House Minority Whip Eric Cantor for viciously trashing the stimulus for wasting billions on pork while requesting and bragging about getting funds for a high-speed rail project in his district.
Meanwhile, the stimulus money is still flowing, however slowly and imperfectly, more may be needed, the economy is slowly recovering while worries about the growing deficit are warranted, but you would never know that as the complex reality by listening to the rhetoric of a Washington that has lost the ability to say "Yes, but..."
Showing posts with label economic stimulus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economic stimulus. Show all posts
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Monday, November 23, 2009
Trade Health Care for More Stimulus?
The weekend "victory" in the Senate has Pyrrhic written all over it as 2000 pages of proposed legislation is on its way to being held hostage by the likes of Joe Lieberman, Mary Landrieu, Blanche Lincoln, Ben Nelson et al. What we have now is an abortion of a bill that will only get worse as the back-alley bargaining goes on.
Here's a radical idea for the President of Change: Take most of it off the table until after next year's elections and put your full weight behind another stimulus that would speed up economic recovery, create jobs and shove it down the throats of Republicans who are using the incoherence of health care reform to confuse Americans who are terrified about the economy.
"Most economists I talk to," Paul Krugman writes today, "believe that the big risk to recovery comes from the inadequacy of government efforts: the stimulus was too small, and it will fade out next year, while high unemployment is undermining both consumer and business confidence.
"Now, it’s politically difficult for the Obama administration to enact a full-scale second stimulus. Still, he should be trying to push through as much aid to the economy as possible. And remember, Mr. Obama has the bully pulpit; it’s his job to persuade America to do what needs to be done."
It would take political guts for the President, after all his talk about the urgency of health care reform, to take most of it off the table temporarily and put the effort and money into turning the economy around.
Settle for passing the noncontroversial elements now--i.e., no cutoffs for preexisting conditions--and move on to a full-scale assault on what is really worrying Americans.
Democrats who have to face the voters in less than a year should be able to unite and help him get something meaningful done.
Update: Joe Lieberman, dubbed by Joe Klein, "the Senator from Aetna," is digging in on the public option, in what the Wall Street Journal calls his "trademark sonorous baritone" but others would call a weasely whine, promising to filibuster against the public option. Harry Reid may buy him off before the final vote, but it's saddening to see a pivotal role being played by someone rejected by his own party's voters in the last election. Is this the way to get health care reform?
Here's a radical idea for the President of Change: Take most of it off the table until after next year's elections and put your full weight behind another stimulus that would speed up economic recovery, create jobs and shove it down the throats of Republicans who are using the incoherence of health care reform to confuse Americans who are terrified about the economy.
"Most economists I talk to," Paul Krugman writes today, "believe that the big risk to recovery comes from the inadequacy of government efforts: the stimulus was too small, and it will fade out next year, while high unemployment is undermining both consumer and business confidence.
"Now, it’s politically difficult for the Obama administration to enact a full-scale second stimulus. Still, he should be trying to push through as much aid to the economy as possible. And remember, Mr. Obama has the bully pulpit; it’s his job to persuade America to do what needs to be done."
It would take political guts for the President, after all his talk about the urgency of health care reform, to take most of it off the table temporarily and put the effort and money into turning the economy around.
Settle for passing the noncontroversial elements now--i.e., no cutoffs for preexisting conditions--and move on to a full-scale assault on what is really worrying Americans.
Democrats who have to face the voters in less than a year should be able to unite and help him get something meaningful done.
Update: Joe Lieberman, dubbed by Joe Klein, "the Senator from Aetna," is digging in on the public option, in what the Wall Street Journal calls his "trademark sonorous baritone" but others would call a weasely whine, promising to filibuster against the public option. Harry Reid may buy him off before the final vote, but it's saddening to see a pivotal role being played by someone rejected by his own party's voters in the last election. Is this the way to get health care reform?
Friday, July 10, 2009
Stimulus Stew
The state of the economy, it's safe to say, is iffy at best but, less than six months after its passage, the market for badmouthing the stimulus bill is booming.
On the left, Paul Krugman insists that a "bad employment report for June made it clear that the stimulus was, indeed, too small" and "damaged the credibility of the administration’s economic stewardship."
From right field, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor tells us "the stimulus or so-called stimulus plan that spent almost $800 billion has not worked," while economist Karl Rove proclaims that "Obama can't be trusted with numbers" as he bashes the White House for being too slow in getting the money out the door.
In the center, Warren Buffet is musing about the need for a second round of pumping money into the economy, complaining that the first was "like taking half a tablet of Viagra and having also a bunch of candy mixed in...as if everybody was putting in enough for their own constituents."
Meanwhile, Joe Biden is on a tour touting positive results here and there, as the Recovery blog announces web seminars (Webinars) to spread the good news.
In this flurry of opinionating, the prize for empty news goes to USA Today for its headlined revelation, "Billions in aid go to areas that backed Obama in '08," which undermines itself by noting:
"Investigators who track the stimulus are skeptical that political considerations could be at work. The imbalance is so pronounced--and the aid so far from complete--that it would be almost inconceivable for it to be the result of political tinkering, says Adam Hughes, the director of federal fiscal policy for the non-profit OMB Watch. 'Even if they wanted to, I don't think the administration has enough people in place yet to actually do that,' he says."
Oh.
On the left, Paul Krugman insists that a "bad employment report for June made it clear that the stimulus was, indeed, too small" and "damaged the credibility of the administration’s economic stewardship."
From right field, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor tells us "the stimulus or so-called stimulus plan that spent almost $800 billion has not worked," while economist Karl Rove proclaims that "Obama can't be trusted with numbers" as he bashes the White House for being too slow in getting the money out the door.
In the center, Warren Buffet is musing about the need for a second round of pumping money into the economy, complaining that the first was "like taking half a tablet of Viagra and having also a bunch of candy mixed in...as if everybody was putting in enough for their own constituents."
Meanwhile, Joe Biden is on a tour touting positive results here and there, as the Recovery blog announces web seminars (Webinars) to spread the good news.
In this flurry of opinionating, the prize for empty news goes to USA Today for its headlined revelation, "Billions in aid go to areas that backed Obama in '08," which undermines itself by noting:
"Investigators who track the stimulus are skeptical that political considerations could be at work. The imbalance is so pronounced--and the aid so far from complete--that it would be almost inconceivable for it to be the result of political tinkering, says Adam Hughes, the director of federal fiscal policy for the non-profit OMB Watch. 'Even if they wanted to, I don't think the administration has enough people in place yet to actually do that,' he says."
Oh.
Monday, March 02, 2009
The Melting of American Wealth
How did we get so poor so fast? Under the radar of stimulus bills and bailouts, economists are toting up the damage and super-investors like Warren Buffet are still trying to figure out what happened.
Now we learn the economy is shrinking twice as fast as originally thought--at an annualized rate of 6.2 percent in the last three months of 2008 rather than the original estimate of 3.2, making it the worst quarter since 1982.
The downward spiral, reflected in a sinking stock market, has troubled banks taking taxpayer money but hesitating to lend and nervous companies laying off workers (an expected 700,000 job losses in February) leading to deeper consumer cuts in spending that will deprive businesses of revenue and more falling behind on house, car and credit card payments, multiplying losses throughout the financial system.
Looking back at how all this happened, even the Sage of Omaha is blaming himself for doing "some dumb things" but aiming most of his scorn at derivatives devised by “a nerdy-sounding priesthood, using esoteric terms such as beta, gamma, sigma and the like...Beware of geeks bearing formulas.”
With typical Warren Buffet bluntness, he concludes, “Participants seeking to dodge troubles face the same problem as someone seeking to avoid venereal disease: It’s not just whom you sleep with, but also whom they are sleeping with.”
But Buffet's aw-shucks posture of earthy wisdom is too easy on himself and lesser investors who thrived in a world where manipulating money was the most prized skill of all, at the extremes allowing con artists like Bernard Madoff to bilk so-called savvy investors of billions.
Now, as the government tries to move money into the real world--agricultural subsidies from corporate farms to feeding poor children, students loans from private banks to direct Pell grants--much of the effort is still going into propping up "too big to fail" entities like AIG, the remnants of a financial system that detached itself from reality and shows few signs of finding its way back.
When the stimulus money finally starts flowing into the hands of people who work and make things or help sick people or teach children, that will be a sign that the downward spiral may finally be ending.
Now we learn the economy is shrinking twice as fast as originally thought--at an annualized rate of 6.2 percent in the last three months of 2008 rather than the original estimate of 3.2, making it the worst quarter since 1982.
The downward spiral, reflected in a sinking stock market, has troubled banks taking taxpayer money but hesitating to lend and nervous companies laying off workers (an expected 700,000 job losses in February) leading to deeper consumer cuts in spending that will deprive businesses of revenue and more falling behind on house, car and credit card payments, multiplying losses throughout the financial system.
Looking back at how all this happened, even the Sage of Omaha is blaming himself for doing "some dumb things" but aiming most of his scorn at derivatives devised by “a nerdy-sounding priesthood, using esoteric terms such as beta, gamma, sigma and the like...Beware of geeks bearing formulas.”
With typical Warren Buffet bluntness, he concludes, “Participants seeking to dodge troubles face the same problem as someone seeking to avoid venereal disease: It’s not just whom you sleep with, but also whom they are sleeping with.”
But Buffet's aw-shucks posture of earthy wisdom is too easy on himself and lesser investors who thrived in a world where manipulating money was the most prized skill of all, at the extremes allowing con artists like Bernard Madoff to bilk so-called savvy investors of billions.
Now, as the government tries to move money into the real world--agricultural subsidies from corporate farms to feeding poor children, students loans from private banks to direct Pell grants--much of the effort is still going into propping up "too big to fail" entities like AIG, the remnants of a financial system that detached itself from reality and shows few signs of finding its way back.
When the stimulus money finally starts flowing into the hands of people who work and make things or help sick people or teach children, that will be a sign that the downward spiral may finally be ending.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
GOP Scorpions and Democratic Tortoises
This is a time for mixed metaphors. As the House was voting on the stimulus bill yesterday, Minority Leader John Boehner held up his hand with thumb and forefinger to create a zero, indicating the number of Republicans who would back the bill.
He might have done better with a V for pyrrhic victory.
We are in tortoise-and-scorpion territory here, with the GOP willing to drown both themselves and Democrats in the economic flood by doing what is in their nature--ideologically stinging the bearers of government spending as they try to prevent impending disaster.
Imperfect as the House bill is, the unanimous vote against it signifies Barack Obama's failure to get a serious bipartisan dialogue going there over the relative efficacy of spending vs. tax cuts, neither of which is guaranteed to reverse the economy's freefall. (Conservative economist Martin Feldstein, among others, has ideas that seem to be worth consideration.)
The President keeps inviting such engagement, as he did in response to the House vote last night:
“I hope that we can continue to strengthen this plan before it gets to my desk,” he said. “But what we can’t do is drag our feet or allow the same partisan differences to get in our way. We must move swiftly and boldly to put Americans back to work, and that is exactly what this plan begins to do.”
The hope now for urgent debate needed over specific measures is in the Senate, where Mitch McConnell, with a six-year lease on his seat, seems more willing to work with Democrats than Boehner and his crew, whose eyes seem to be firmly fixed on the 2010 elections.
Their unanimity is impressive, but they could turn out to be lemmings headed for a seaside vacation.
He might have done better with a V for pyrrhic victory.
We are in tortoise-and-scorpion territory here, with the GOP willing to drown both themselves and Democrats in the economic flood by doing what is in their nature--ideologically stinging the bearers of government spending as they try to prevent impending disaster.
Imperfect as the House bill is, the unanimous vote against it signifies Barack Obama's failure to get a serious bipartisan dialogue going there over the relative efficacy of spending vs. tax cuts, neither of which is guaranteed to reverse the economy's freefall. (Conservative economist Martin Feldstein, among others, has ideas that seem to be worth consideration.)
The President keeps inviting such engagement, as he did in response to the House vote last night:
“I hope that we can continue to strengthen this plan before it gets to my desk,” he said. “But what we can’t do is drag our feet or allow the same partisan differences to get in our way. We must move swiftly and boldly to put Americans back to work, and that is exactly what this plan begins to do.”
The hope now for urgent debate needed over specific measures is in the Senate, where Mitch McConnell, with a six-year lease on his seat, seems more willing to work with Democrats than Boehner and his crew, whose eyes seem to be firmly fixed on the 2010 elections.
Their unanimity is impressive, but they could turn out to be lemmings headed for a seaside vacation.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Sorcerer's Apprentice Transition
Barack Obama's to-do list just keeps growing as aides tell us he is "closely monitoring" the Gaza crisis even as they keep repeating the one-president-at-a-time mantra.
In the weirdest transition in White House history, the question of being ready on Day One, which was the subject of so much debate earlier this year, has morphed into two months of pre-presidential involvement in bailouts and economic stimulus debates--and now a full-blown foreign policy flap.
According to senior adviser David Axelrod, Condoleeza Rice is keeping the President-Elect up to speed "to get a handle on the situation, so that, when he becomes president on January 20, he has the advantage of all the facts and information leading up to that point."
When the training wheels come off that day, Obama may be hurtling downhill steering his way around a Middle East roadblock as he tries to get to the economic mess.
It's all beginning to look like the sorcerer's apprentice in an overflowing presidential workshop.
In the weirdest transition in White House history, the question of being ready on Day One, which was the subject of so much debate earlier this year, has morphed into two months of pre-presidential involvement in bailouts and economic stimulus debates--and now a full-blown foreign policy flap.
According to senior adviser David Axelrod, Condoleeza Rice is keeping the President-Elect up to speed "to get a handle on the situation, so that, when he becomes president on January 20, he has the advantage of all the facts and information leading up to that point."
When the training wheels come off that day, Obama may be hurtling downhill steering his way around a Middle East roadblock as he tries to get to the economic mess.
It's all beginning to look like the sorcerer's apprentice in an overflowing presidential workshop.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Thanks a Trillion
After months of boring billion-dollar bailouts, the Change in Washington will usher in an exciting new time of the trillion for the incoming Congress and Administration:
*Cost estimates of the Obama stimulus plan for the economy are now $1 trillion over two years.
*Politicians will be under pressure to stop the steep drop in the value of American homes, now estimated to have fallen by $2 trillion this year.
*The new people at Treasury and Congressional oversight committees will be busy trying to find out what happened to an estimated $2 trillion shoveled out to banks and other financial houses in the past months. (Bloomberg News is suing under the Freedom of Information Act, but government agencies won't say.)
*When they get a closer look at the books, the Obama people may finally see if the Iraq war cost us only $1 or $2 trillion, as the Congressional Budget Office figures, or closer to the $4 trillion and counting that Nobel economist Joseph Stieglitz has been calculating.
At this rate, it will soon be time to update the folksy wisdom of the 1960s Republican Senate Leader Everett Dirksen: "A trillion here, a trillion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money."
*Cost estimates of the Obama stimulus plan for the economy are now $1 trillion over two years.
*Politicians will be under pressure to stop the steep drop in the value of American homes, now estimated to have fallen by $2 trillion this year.
*The new people at Treasury and Congressional oversight committees will be busy trying to find out what happened to an estimated $2 trillion shoveled out to banks and other financial houses in the past months. (Bloomberg News is suing under the Freedom of Information Act, but government agencies won't say.)
*When they get a closer look at the books, the Obama people may finally see if the Iraq war cost us only $1 or $2 trillion, as the Congressional Budget Office figures, or closer to the $4 trillion and counting that Nobel economist Joseph Stieglitz has been calculating.
At this rate, it will soon be time to update the folksy wisdom of the 1960s Republican Senate Leader Everett Dirksen: "A trillion here, a trillion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money."
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