Comments on: Dems Divided On Second Stimulus http://donklephant.com/2009/07/08/dems-divided-on-second-stimulus/ Big Teeth. Huge Ass. Surprisingly Reasonable. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:05:09 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Tully http://donklephant.com/2009/07/08/dems-divided-on-second-stimulus/comment-page-1/#comment-505990 Tully Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:30:18 +0000 http://donklephant.com/?p=15514#comment-505990 The first "stimulus" was little but pent-up pork and state/local gov't welfare in the first place, so I'm less than startled that it was less than effective. We're still in "pushing on a rope" territory, and propping up state /local gov't budgets and second-tier pork projects that couldn't make cost-effectivenss criteria the first dozen times they were proposed stimulates little. More "stimulus" along those lines won't help. Until business investment turns back up we remain screwed, and it won't turn back up until there's a reasonable expectation in the business community that investments will provide real returns. In the meantime, all that gov't borrowing is crowding out private investment. Hey ho. The first “stimulus” was little but pent-up pork and state/local gov’t welfare in the first place, so I’m less than startled that it was less than effective. We’re still in “pushing on a rope” territory, and propping up state /local gov’t budgets and second-tier pork projects that couldn’t make cost-effectivenss criteria the first dozen times they were proposed stimulates little. More “stimulus” along those lines won’t help. Until business investment turns back up we remain screwed, and it won’t turn back up until there’s a reasonable expectation in the business community that investments will provide real returns. In the meantime, all that gov’t borrowing is crowding out private investment. Hey ho.

]]> By: kranky kritter http://donklephant.com/2009/07/08/dems-divided-on-second-stimulus/comment-page-1/#comment-505325 kranky kritter Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:06:25 +0000 http://donklephant.com/?p=15514#comment-505325 If they aren't "getting their story straight" that means there are two stories. Which means that a substantial subset of democrats understands that the gross overspending of the last 2 budgets (Bush's last and Obama's first) has jeopardized the dollar, and that further overspending at the astonishing rates of the last 2 budgets is probably untenable. IOW, presumably some democrats understand that spending at the levels of the last 2 budgets must stop, and must quickly trend back down at least to historical levels. That's great news. If they aren’t “getting their story straight” that means there are two stories. Which means that a substantial subset of democrats understands that the gross overspending of the last 2 budgets (Bush’s last and Obama’s first) has jeopardized the dollar, and that further overspending at the astonishing rates of the last 2 budgets is probably untenable.

IOW, presumably some democrats understand that spending at the levels of the last 2 budgets must stop, and must quickly trend back down at least to historical levels. That’s great news.

]]>