note to Tweety, all government spending stimulates the economy

[hfojvt]

I happened to catch part of Hardball, where Matthews was complaining that the stimulus bill was full of crap that had nothing to do with economic stimulus. Way to carry water for the Republicans Chris. Then he also said that Obama needs to sell it to the people the way Reagan could. Gag. I wonder if Reagan had talking heads like you saying that his proposal was crap.

Here's Media Matters, quoting a CBO economist who testified to Republican questions.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200902030016?f=h_top

"From Elmendorf's testimony (accessed from the Nexis database):

REP. ROBERT ADERHOLT (R-AL): Just one thing that many of us have noted, that out of the $500 billion in the spending plan that has been proposed, only about $30 billion will be for highways. And a lot of -- much of the rest of that amount will be for various government programs, in ways that appear, at least on face value, do not have a stimulative effect, such as maybe the $50 million for the National Endowment of the Arts. How much of the $500 billion would you say will actually stimulate the growth and create jobs in the economy?

ELMENDORF: So in our estimation -- and I think the estimation of most economists -- all of the increase in government spending and all of the reduction in tax revenue provides some stimulative effect. People are put to work, receive income, spend that on something else. That puts somebody else to work. And for short-term purposes, what really matters most is how many extra dollars get spent, and that's why Keynes used this imaginary story about putting money in mines and paying people to dig it up, just the act of getting purchasing power into the economy.

Now, over time, putting money in mines and digging it up does nothing for our consumption possibilities or the future growth of the economy. So spending the money on something else presumably makes much more sense. But in terms of the direct effect, it is either the spending or the taxes in a variety of categories, and the differences amount to how quickly it happens and to the bang for the buck. But nothing really has a bang for the buck of zero.

ADERHOLT: So what percentage of that -- but you would say that the -- out of the $500 billion, would you say actually would stimulate the economy, in your opinion?

ELMENDORF: So I think all of the $800 billion provides some stimulative effect. The extent of stimulus varies by category, but it all matters, all of it."

***

It ALL matters. All of it. Yet Republicans and people like Matthews keep saying that lots of it doesn't matter, is just wasted money, just liberal pork. Actually Obama's response to Gibson was very good too if Matthews would pay attention to that.

"GIBSON: Which leads some people to say that you tried to do too much with this bill too soon, and not enough of it is really stimulative. And as you know, there's a lot of people in the public, a lot of members of Congress who think this is pork-stuffed and that it really doesn't stimulate. A lot of people have said it's a spending bill and not a stimulus.

OBAMA: Charlie, if you take a look at the bill, the fact is there are no earmarks in this bill, which, by the way, some of the critics can't claim for legislation they've voted for over the last eight years. But here's the thing that I think we have to understand -- the economy is in desperate straits. What I won't do is adopt the same economic theories that helped land us in the worst economy since the Great Depression. But I want to be absolutely clear here: The overwhelming bulk of the package is sound, is designed to put people back to work, help states that are in desperate straits, help families who are losing jobs and healthcare, and is designed to make sure that we've got green energy jobs for the future. In fact, most of the programs that have been criticized as part of this package amount to less than 1 percent of the overall package, and it makes for good copy, but here's the thing -- we can't afford to play the usual politics at a time when the American economy continues to worsen."