US May Need a Second Stimulus: Obama Adviser

[tekisui]

Source: AFP

SINGAPORE (AFP) — The United States may need a second stimulus package focusing on infrastructure projects to put the world's biggest economy firmly on the path to recovery, a top White House adviser said here Tuesday.

Laura Tyson, a member of US President Barack Obama's Economic Advisory Panel, said the first stimulus package included "a significant amount of investment in long-term growth."

She also said the country's budget deficit -- already at its widest since World War II -- will likely be bigger than expected this year and could surpass an earlier projection of around 12 percent of gross domestic product.

Her comments come after Obama last month said US unemployment would likely climb above 10 percent but that a new injection of government money was "not yet" needed.

However, she said her remarks represent her own views and not the administration's official position.

Tyson, speaking at the Nomura Asia Equity Forum in Singapore, said it was too early to quantify the size of a second package, adding that "we'll have a much better idea towards the end of the year."

more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h-Ccb7EgcNjHsGbso74fWCBR6b1w

[MadHound]

1. And how the hell are we going to pay for it?

That was the thing about the first stimulus, it had to be well considered because according to all the experts we really only had one shot. Well, that one shot is apparently misfiring, so now what are we left with? Oh, yeah, the bill.

We simply cannot continue to print out money to cover our debt, it's a suckers move that's going to come back and kill us. Or maybe that's the plan, devalue the dollar in a major way in order to pay off our ten trillion dollar debt, and screw the little people.

[qazplm]

3. but but but

Krugman!

I have no idea anymore. The economy was so messed up that fixing it is going to take a bit of trial and error at this point.

[MadHound]

4. I would have loved if Krugman had been consulted for the first stimulus,

But instead Obama went with this bipartisan bullshit and cut out good stimulus money and replaced it with more bullshit tax cuts. Hell, sixteen billion of education stimulus was axed in favor of tax cuts and considering that I'm graduating with a teaching degree next spring, that really pisses me off. I know people who gradated last year who are still looking for jobs, while most of this year's graduates are fleeing into grad school. Meanwhile states are laying off teachers by the tens of thousands, and they're going to migrate to where the jobs are, making it even more difficult to find a teaching job.

Krugman was right, we needed a larger initial stimulus, but apparently having a Nobel prize in Economics just doesn't carry the same weight as being a crony capitalist does.

[eomer]

5. Not so sure whether you're right about that.

It seems to me (but I'm not an economist!) that printing money and paying it to poor and unemployed people is a backdoor way to tax wealth and transfer some of it to where it is needed. Sure it would devalue the dollar but what difference would that make to people who don't have any? Much of the dollars it would devalue are locked up in the offshore tax havens of the extremely wealthy.

[yodoobo]

7. Stimulous plans pay for themsleves

Not immediately of course. Its like any other investment.

[niceypoo]

2. Will they invite the GOP to add a bunch of amendments?

Which take the teeth out of it, before they all vote against it AGAIN?

[kjackson227]

6. Until unemployment gets better, nothing is going to help this economy...

in my humble opinion. Public Option is the only way to free up money so that employers can start back to hiring. It's a win-win for employers and employees. Another huge stimulus helps no one except Wall Street.