I feel a Google by you needed here, because there are good references to his negative showing. If you are helpless in this matter, I will find the references for you in a while.

So, your boss is an economist?

No, my boss is a CEO. I was discussing my wife's boss. Read much bit?

You can pretend that there was never a big economic problem, that it was all fear mongering, but if you do ... surely a few hundred billion would "work." Surely it wouldn't keep a good economy down.

If there wasn't a problem the economy would be growing, as it usually does - rather than dropping 6% in GDP.

I think critics have to balance their cognitive dissonance very carefully.

my inclusion of FDR in the gaggle of Presidents that are stakeholders in our troubles,

Interesting viewpoint. My wife's boss, who is a wealthy, conservative lifelong Republican who actually lived through the depression, (and thinks the sun shines out of Bush's ass) flatly says that FDR saved the country in his first term.

I think I will go with the informed opinion, and leave manning to pat himself on the back over what a great patriot he is.

It is indeed the correct view that we need something like the Tea Parties in order to get the message out, provide the truth about the spending through educational materials and talks, and to create more widespread knowledge and enthusiasm for the conservative approach and how to defend it against the entrenched opposition.

In a real sense, we are fighting a battle for our beliefs, and for what we believe is best for the nation and all of its people. Any effort that furthers these goals is to be commended. Grassroot enthusiasm cannot be wrong to promote, with the one caveat that the effort must not peak too soon, only to sputter out before the next elections.

The idea of a bailout was sold for TARP I and the Big 3. It didn't work. Then they had TARP II. Then a stimulus package whose reasoning was any money spent was good money, and which was used to give money to organizations that elect Democrats and have little fiscal value, all while being sold as investment in roads and bridges and education.

Then there's the appropriation bill, which is filled with 9,000 earmarks, and is another 400 billion.

This spending is sold as investment, similar to saying you're borrowing money for college loans to improve your future, but all you did was take the money and blow it on your beer and pizza.

It doesn't take much to say that we'd be better off spending nothing than borrowing it to waste it, while increasing the long term obligations.

Maybe that's too simple. I'm sure we should just sit back and trust the honest folks in Congress. Except the process is broken. Any fool can see that.

The purpose of the tea parties is to educate and make the attempt to bring us back from this precipice. It's not an Obama thing. He's just gasoline on the fire. It's been a long-term problem since the 1930's - a slow creep towards more governmental control that will end badly.

It always has. Forgive us for not kneeling and accepting our chains.

Can anyone tell me why "Helicopter" and who he is reported to be quoting?

(I'd love to know why Bush's government appointed a Depression expert in 2006, what cracks, if any, they saw forming!)

Steve

Those seem to be falling back to the cognitive dissonance - that you can do stimulus without spending, or with congress, or without the particular sausage works that is our Congress.

I get that some folks are "simplifying" their minds, by saying that since Congress is messy, since some fraction of spending will be less effective, therefore we should do none ...

but as much I get it, I also get that it is not a rational economic argument. It dodges the real economic questions.

If a week devoted to review by all parties was asking too much of the leadership, we are in dire straits! The precedent has been set to ram all manner of legislation down our throats without review, for one only has to cite "Urgent, Stimulus"!

Why don't we simplify the whole thing and do away with the Congress? That seems to be the idea.

Democrats are dictating to us!

He says that while the stimulus bill has pork, it (a) needed, and (b) probably about as good as we can do. (Bloomberg News video)