"That's what you call an "excuse"."
No it isn't. It is called an explanation. There were plenty at the time that thought it was too small. I did point that out at the time. But, something is better than nothing, so...
"Given that stimulus has never, ever worked before"
Oh, bullshit. It works almost all of the time. The times it doesn't work well, i.e. Japan, there are other factors in the mix.
"As Milton Friedman has pointed out, any positive effect of "stimulus" is temporary, and will ultimately result in inflation."
Milton Friedman was wrong on a lot of thing. We have been trying his ideas for over 30 years. The result has been a shrinking middle class with stagnating wages. The rising tide that was supposed to raise all boats turned out to be very selective.
"The one guy out there talking about paying down the debt is under vicious assault from the Left"
You mean at the moment? Of course. That is a brain dead thing to do when the economy is fragile. There are plenty of examples out there right now. But you refuse to acknowledge that because it challenges your world view. So you hold your hands over your ears shouting "LaLaLaLa!!!".
Sad to see actually.
."Recessions have a pattern that is pretty consistent:"
Regular recessions do. What happened was not just a recession. At one point, international trade almost came to a complete halt. That didn't happen before or during the Great Depression. It dropped off, but didn't go to nearly zero.
"Oh, but I thought economic stimulus solved those problems."
Pay attention, i-node. Enough stimulus would have solved the long term employment problem because there wouldn't have been a long term unemployment problem. Granted, a large enough stimulus would do the trick, if the economy boomed enough that fogging a mirror is enough qualifications for a job, that would be the ticket. But this is 3.5 years later.
"Yeah, they screwed up by not building the Volt earlier, right?"
No, they screwed up by not investing in technology and their exclusive focus on large cars. They also had a very large, complex management structure that made it impossible to make decisions. So in a way, you are correct. But the Volt is just symbolic of their problems.
"I think the results from 2005, 06, 07 pretty much disprove any argument that tax cuts do not increase revenue."
Have you looked at spending during those years? Bush was spending money like a drunken sailor. What you see is the stimulus effect of that spending. If spending has remained flat, or even declined you would have a point. As it is, well...
"They certainly haven't."
They certainly have, i-node.GM managed to work a deal that cut their costs by 40% for the new Sonic. |
