Michael Hirsch of Newsweek demonstrates how many people around here think:
Obama has allowed Congress to grow embroiled in nitpicking over efficiency when the central debate should be about whether the package is big enough. When you are dealing with a stimulus of this size, there are going to be wasteful expenditures and boondoggles. There's no way anyone can spend $800 to $900 billion quickly without waste and boondoggles. It comes with the Keynesian territory. This is an emergency; the normal rules do not apply.
You can detect the exasperation in his voice. He acknowledges the waste and the inefficiency but implies it's of minimal relevance because, hey, it's an emergency. The thought that maybe the best way to deal with the downturn is anything other than borrow and spend a bunch of money doesn't even occur to him.
1 comment:
"It comes with the Keynesian territory."
- What an ignorant statement. Keynes himself stated that government action was likely too slow and too inefficient for reality to live up to theory.
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