This morning, Michael Gerson of the Washington Post compares President Obama to the captain of the Titanic minutes before his ship sunk. He also acknowledges that stimulus spending isn’t stimulating (there is more and more of that in the page if the Post):
The stimulus package hasn’t been very stimulating — as many economists predicted. Pouring money into the economy through a thirsty sponge of federal programs — the preferred method of Congress — is slow and inefficient. In retrospect, all of the stimulus funds should have been given to individuals directly from the tap.
He also rightfully notes that we should keep our fingers crossed that Obama’s spending dreams stay that, just dreams:
Obama’s spending ambitions would have been jaw-dropping even in the best of economic times. Federal spending this year is about 28 percent of gross domestic product — a figure exceeded only when Franklin Roosevelt was fighting a global war against Germany and Japan. Along the fiscal path Obama has chosen (according to the Congressional Budget Office) our national debt will more than double in 10 years and will amount to 82 percent of the entire economy.
Read on.
By the way, I was on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal this morning talking about a second stimulus and other nonsenses here.