NoaIzumiStein and Limbaugh: We Hate the Stimulus!
February 4th 2009 14:50
Nothing wrong with that, of course. Well, unless they’re using false arguments to make their case. That nets them a one-way trip to this blog.
Senate Must Reject Faux Stimulus, by David Limbaugh
“Even the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office has revealed Obama's bill is largely not stimulative”
According to the CBO, the stimulus would have “a noticeable impact on economic growth and employment over the next few years.”
Really Long Link (PDF)
In recent testimony for Congress, the head of the CBO, Douglas Elmendorf, wrote that the stimulus bill, HR1, “would provide massive fiscal stimulus that includes a combination of government spending increases and revenue reductions…. In CBO's judgment, H.R. 1 would provide a substantial boost to economic activity over the next several years relative to what would occur without any legislation.”
Really Long Link (PDF)
“Clinton had to be dragged kicking and screaming to fiscal restraint by the Gingrich Congress.”
As a percentage of GDP, federal spending went down during Clinton’s first two years.
Really Long Link
In constant dollars, spending increased in 1994 and 1995, but at a rate lower than the average during the Reagan-Bush years.
Really Long Link
“Other than defense spending, which Obama unwisely plans to cut drastically in this time of war,”
Huh? Didn’t the Obama administration propose a $14 billion (2.7%) increase to the defense budget for 2010?
Really Long Link
Let’s see what Mr. Stein has to say.
Politics of Payoff, by Ben Stein
“pass a bill spending $820 billion”
But the proposed stimulus isn’t just government spending. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that over a fourth of the $816 billion bill ($212 billion) consists of tax cuts, including $50 billion in tax cuts for small businesses. Mr. Stein never mentions that fact.
Really Long Link (PDF)
"Only 10 percent of the "stimulus" to be spent on 2009."
Even counting spending alone, according to the document linked above, over 15% of the money is spent in fiscal year 2009 (which started in October 2008). Counting spending and tax cuts, over 20% of the bill goes into effect by then.
“For the amount spent, we could have given every unemployed person in the United States roughly $75,000.
We could give every person who had lost a job and is now passing through long-term unemployment of six months or longer roughly $300,000.”
That implies that the main or sole purpose of the stimulus is to help the unemployed, when the stimulus gives the economy a jump in general and includes improvements to infrastructure, health, defense, and communities. $18 billion goes to improving energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. $20 billion would go to renovations to elementary and secondary schools. $6 billion is allocated for military construction projects. $30 billion goes to highway construction. (I could go on, but it’s all in the linked doc.)
“Further, no one can be sure that we are not already at the trough of the recession - such that this money will be spent mostly after the recovery is well under way.”
Fully 64% of the stimulus (including tax cuts and spending) would be put out by October 2010 (the end of the next fiscal year). Stein must be expecting a very quick recovery.
“How long until the debt incurred under this program is so immense that it causes a downgrade in the nation's sovereign debt?”
According to the Debt Clock, the current US national debt is $10.7 trillion (and on a personal note, might I just add, Yikes!), which the stimulus would add over a trillion to, including interest. But, to put it into perspective, the country’s debt went up by over 2 trillion dollars between 2001 and 2005, a rise of about a third in just four years. And as a percentage of GDP, the debt has been higher as recently as 1950.
Really Long Link
Really Long Link
Really Long Link
Senate Must Reject Faux Stimulus, by David Limbaugh
“Even the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office has revealed Obama's bill is largely not stimulative”
According to the CBO, the stimulus would have “a noticeable impact on economic growth and employment over the next few years.”
Really Long Link (PDF)
In recent testimony for Congress, the head of the CBO, Douglas Elmendorf, wrote that the stimulus bill, HR1, “would provide massive fiscal stimulus that includes a combination of government spending increases and revenue reductions…. In CBO's judgment, H.R. 1 would provide a substantial boost to economic activity over the next several years relative to what would occur without any legislation.”
Really Long Link (PDF)
“Clinton had to be dragged kicking and screaming to fiscal restraint by the Gingrich Congress.”
As a percentage of GDP, federal spending went down during Clinton’s first two years.
Really Long Link
In constant dollars, spending increased in 1994 and 1995, but at a rate lower than the average during the Reagan-Bush years.
Really Long Link
“Other than defense spending, which Obama unwisely plans to cut drastically in this time of war,”
Huh? Didn’t the Obama administration propose a $14 billion (2.7%) increase to the defense budget for 2010?
Really Long Link
Let’s see what Mr. Stein has to say.
Politics of Payoff, by Ben Stein
“pass a bill spending $820 billion”
But the proposed stimulus isn’t just government spending. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that over a fourth of the $816 billion bill ($212 billion) consists of tax cuts, including $50 billion in tax cuts for small businesses. Mr. Stein never mentions that fact.
Really Long Link (PDF)
"Only 10 percent of the "stimulus" to be spent on 2009."
Even counting spending alone, according to the document linked above, over 15% of the money is spent in fiscal year 2009 (which started in October 2008). Counting spending and tax cuts, over 20% of the bill goes into effect by then.
“For the amount spent, we could have given every unemployed person in the United States roughly $75,000.
We could give every person who had lost a job and is now passing through long-term unemployment of six months or longer roughly $300,000.”
That implies that the main or sole purpose of the stimulus is to help the unemployed, when the stimulus gives the economy a jump in general and includes improvements to infrastructure, health, defense, and communities. $18 billion goes to improving energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. $20 billion would go to renovations to elementary and secondary schools. $6 billion is allocated for military construction projects. $30 billion goes to highway construction. (I could go on, but it’s all in the linked doc.)
“Further, no one can be sure that we are not already at the trough of the recession - such that this money will be spent mostly after the recovery is well under way.”
Fully 64% of the stimulus (including tax cuts and spending) would be put out by October 2010 (the end of the next fiscal year). Stein must be expecting a very quick recovery.
“How long until the debt incurred under this program is so immense that it causes a downgrade in the nation's sovereign debt?”
According to the Debt Clock, the current US national debt is $10.7 trillion (and on a personal note, might I just add, Yikes!), which the stimulus would add over a trillion to, including interest. But, to put it into perspective, the country’s debt went up by over 2 trillion dollars between 2001 and 2005, a rise of about a third in just four years. And as a percentage of GDP, the debt has been higher as recently as 1950.
Really Long Link
Really Long Link
Really Long Link
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