The World According to Nick
Thursday, January 15, 2009
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We Haven't Been Stimulated Yet

So everyone seems to be in a huff over the sheer audacity of Scott Walker to say that Milwaukee won't take any Federal Stimulus money.  First of all, as I've argued before, federal spending does not stimulate the economy.  It redirects money from the taxpayer to political whims, instead of to places in the economy where you and I deem them to work best.

One of the strangest arguments I'm hearing from those on the more liberal side of things is that we might as well take it, because everyone else is going to get some.  The problem with that is... well... the stimulus hasn't passed yet!  They've only just barely proposed a version in the House.  Scott Walker, by saying no to money that hasn't even been allocated yet, is simply saying... don't pass the bill at all!  If another other local leaders were to stand up and do the same thing, perhaps the message would get sent to Washington and the bill would never pass.

That idea sort of worked with the auto bailout.  Enough people from enough states said no, that Congress refused to pass the legislation.  If King George hasn't gone in and given out the money illegally anyway, then the car manufacturers would be properly filing for bankruptcy right now.

The stimulus is not inevitable, so let's not put the cart before the horse.  Instead of everyone worrying that we won't get our fair share of the money, let's decide whether the money should be spent anywhere... then we can worry about divvying it up.

# Posted at 5:06 PM by Nick  |  Comment Feed Link 3 Comments  |  No Trackbacks

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Friday, January 16, 2009 10:33:01 AM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
Three words, John Maynard Keynes. This fellow created the spend our way to stimulus means of economics because it works. One side does it through war mongering, and the other directly through social programs, its not rocket science, has a similar effect. We are as a country past our prime at manufacturing anything competitive with a global market, or havent you noticed. To spend gives us the time to redevelop, redeploy, and of course retrain 2000 welders in Janesville to write Java and C++. This isnt about taxes or spending, its a fundamental restructuring of America. In a post industrial America, does everyone need to write software for each other. Remember when America was going to become the service economy and everyone was to sell financial services to each. Well we did that and look what happened. There isnt no amount of private dollars that could jump start our GDP. If it makes you feel any better, remember Keynes most famous saying, in the long run, we are all dead.

Friday, January 16, 2009 12:24:25 PM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
The economics of John Maynard Keynes is what has lead us to the numerous crashes that we've had in the past. He is the cause, not the solution. We are now in so much debt because of those policies, that there is likely to come a time when we simply won't be able to pay the tab any more, and our Asian friends will refuse to give us more. God knows what will happen then.

But the addage of "in the long run, we are all dead" is an extremely dangerous one, because it encourages the idea that we can put off danger indefinitely. In this case, we are putting it on our children, which is absolutely shameful.
Friday, January 16, 2009 1:59:34 PM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
That depends. Whether you are in the past baby boom age group. You see 60 million people have grown children and vote. They dont care about future generations jsut bringing back the value of their 401K so they can play golf.
In addition, financing America can be put off indefinetly as it has been for the past 3 decades. Your economics understanding is limited. It was spending that causes ups and downs, always tied to a right political party whose ignorance is soon leaving the capital. Plot some figures, look and than speak.
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