Stimulus?

It looks as though the “stimulus” bill will be sailing through Congress and onto President Obama’s desk.  Is that term truth in advertising when it is really a debt increase package? Anyway, this article by Jim Manzi is one of the many good pieces out there showing the faults of this bill and the thinking behind it.

It should be noted how a large piece of the money won’t be spent for several years. Even the largest single-year chunk doesn’t flow out till next year. That isn’t stimulus; it is pet projects hiding under a different name. These tactics, however well-intentioned, were counter-productive during the Great Depression and they will lengthen our current economic troubles. Next to nothing is being done to re-energize investment in the private sector. Instead, plenty is being done to choke off future ventures and, hence, a chance to begin a recovery.