'Not Yet Ready'

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2009/06/not-yet-ready

"Obama adviser not yet ready to back a second stimulus," is the headline over a wire dispatch on Yahoo! News. That headline sure packs in a lot of meaning. "Not yet" suggests that the adviser eventually may come around. "Second stimulus" is a judgment that yet another round of federal spending should not count as a third stimulus, after the $152 billion "Economic Stimulus Act of 2008" signed into law by President Bush in February 2008 and the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed into law by President Obama in 2009. There's got to be a point at which if something isn't working one stops repeating it, but it's not yet clear that we are at that point.

The "Obama adviser," David Axelrod, quoted by the wire says that it is too soon to tell whether the Obama stimulus is working. "Most of the stimulus money — the economic recovery money — is yet to be spent. Let's see what impact that has," Mr. Axelrod says. He seems to be siding with Lawrence Summers against President Obama and Treasury Secretary Geithner in the lively debate (previously noted here and here) over whether to declare the stimulus a success.

by Editor  |  Jun 29, 2009 at 10:07 am Related Topics:  Criticism of Yahoo! News, Stimulus receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list