The Stunted Economic Stimulus by Robert Samuelson

[freemarketer6]

I just got done reading the Economic Stimulus Package. There is no way anyone could have read this in as fast a time as they said they have. Anyway, do you folks remember Obama saying "there are things in the package that were not what he wanted" (Or something to that effect)? I personally believe there is much in the package Obama did not want, and many things he wanted, that are not in the package. And this is becoming very costly. I follow markets closely, even though I am not particularly rich. I like to invest in social stuff: wind farm companies, pollution control, educational services...Stuff like that. In following the markets, I of course look at the major averages, concentrating mainly on the S&P and the NYSE. Normally, when plans which are allegedly supposed to help the economy improve, there is a rise in the markets on the perception that this will come true and then a fall-off after a few days. This has not happened for a long time now. I have never seen anything like it. It's like the market does not believe in the stimulus. I think this is what Samuelson is suggesting here. Samuelson, to me, is absolutely brilliant. He wrote many of the economic books I used in college. Does anyone else out there think the stimulus package should have contained more overtly short-term stimuli. Yes, I know that 13.00 a week is a lot to some people, but is that enough to make the average person go out and buy something? I don't think so. Also, do any of you talk to your neighbors about the stimulus? I live in a medium class neighborhood in California that has been hit hard by the economy. These folks are a mixture of white and blue collar workers, many nearing retirement. They have said almost uniformly that the stimulus package will not help them and they are virtually not spending any money at all, except for real necessities. Many have stopped eating one meal a day, and are splitting medicines. They say they need to shore up their retirements and will keep acting like they have no discretionary income. Is anyone else finding the same, or are doing the same? My wife and I have lost about half our retirement funds, and we had only two stocks and one mutual fund. We were not expecting to have to be poor, but that's looks like what's going to happen. I see an end to the market downswing in mid-March as Elliot Wave 5 concludes, and a bounce to S&P 850, but after that no real upward progress for six or seven years. Does anyone out there follow Elliot Wave Theory? This is my first post. I'm sorry if anything is wrong.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/185852/page/2

[StrongBad]

1. Milton Friedman is dead, and so are his ideas.

In fact, Monetarism, though fashionable for a brief period, has been relegated to the dustbin of economic thought.

Additionally, you should fire whoever told you to put all your savings in two stocks and one mutual fund if your strategy was to buy and hold.

I agree that short term stimuli needs to be added immediately. I am not a doom and gloomer and think that we'll muddle through this and start to see stabilization if not recovery by mid 2010.

[RoyGBiv]

2. The Altar of Milton Friedman

... must be burned and the ashes scattered to the winds, preferably during a hurricane the size and strength of Jupiter's red spot.

The article at your link is written by Robert Samuelson.

[PM Martin]

3. As you said.

Economic Libertarians are of the greatest threat to a just society.

[freemarketer6]

5. Sorry. Getting old and was reading two articles at once......nft

dd

[Narkos]

4. The problem is the Friedman's monetary policies have been tried

and failed. The interest rate is zero.....where do you go from there? Fiscal policy is the only other option. Just because you don't think it will help doesn't mean it won't. Elliott Wave Theory? So everything's preordained by a quasi-mystical interpretation of past economic events? Maybe you should try to check some other sources. Friedmanism is dead.

[freemarketer6]

6. I put the wrong author's name on the article. I no longer study

markets by fundamentals because they can be fictiously created.

[Narkos]

9. Uhhhh, what?

What you need is a Pentium chip, or some way to boost your RAM>

[freemarketer6]

10. Thanks............

I have a Pentium Chip and 6 gigs of RAM.

[Narkos]

11. Use all that RAM at Townhall.com. Might be more useful to you there.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[freemarketer6]

8. My goodness. Good luck to you.

dd

[FarLeftRage]

12. Why are you posting from a right-wing rag?

They put out nothing but garbage for those who are slow on the up take....

[JustinL]

13. you're confusing your Samuelsons

Robert J. Samuelson (Born Robert Jacob Samuelson on December 23, 1945) is a contributing editor of Newsweek and Washington Post...Because he writes on economic issues, he is sometimes confused with Nobel laureate in Economics Paul Samuelson, to whom he is not related.

wikipedia

[DemocratSinceBirth]

14. To Add To The Confusion Both Samuelsons Have Been Newsweek Contributors

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