Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
“There is no such thing as shovel-ready projects.” – President Obama. Although some experts believe that President Obama’s stimulus package (i.e., the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) helped stave off a recession, others believe it was mostly wasteful. What many people do not realize is that China too had its own economic stimulus…
Although the stimulus money may have helped the economy in the short run (1-2 years), in the near-term it seems to have exacerbated problems by bloating state government spending and postponing necessary cuts. “As part of the 2009 stimulus package, Washington gave the states $150 billion. The states became dependent on a higher level of…
On Thursday I blogged that fiscal stimulus and bail outs may improve economic performance in the short run, but rarely in the long run. Often these bailouts are accompanied by mandatory salary decreases for key company leadership. It turns out that these bailouts may not even help in the short run…unless you are a company…
” A substantial short-term rise in spending on defense and intelligence would both stimulate our economy and strengthen our nation’s security.” – Martin Feldstein in WSJ. Robert Higgs disagrees.
Many pundits are calling for Barack Obama to fund massive infrastructure projects. UC-San Diego economist Jim Hamilton of believes that increased block grants to states will not only stimulate the economy, but also permit states the flexibility they need to spend these fund efficiently.