Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Spending our way to prosperity -- not!

Much of the negative commentary about Obama's economic "stimulus" plan has focused on the obvious pork contained therein -- although Obama may be technically right when he said there were no earmarks -- not enough time to slip them in, and besides, practically everything from everybody's wish list had already been slopped in.

I think this Register editorial managed to get closer to fundamentals -- reminding readers that the Bush era had already been an era of big spending, and not only on the war(s), and that it was loose money, easy credit and moral hazard -- why be prudent if you know the gummint will cover your losses? -- that got us into this mess in the first place. We might get a temporary illusion of recovery from this massive spneding spree, but it will crowd out genuinely productive spending and entrepreneurial activities, foster inflation and possible create another bubble to be burst. I wouldn't mind being wrong, but I don't think I am.

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