As January 20 nears, Barack Obama's ambitions for spending on the likes of roads, bridges and jobless benefits keep growing. The latest leak puts the "stimulus" at $1 trillion over a couple of years, and the political class is embracing it as a miracle cure.
Not to spoil the party, but this is not a new idea. Keynesian "pump-priming" in a recession has often been tried, and as an economic stimulus it is overrated. The money that the government spends has to come from somewhere, which means from the private economy in higher taxes or borrowing. The public works are usually less productive than the foregone private investment.
In the Age of Obama, we seem fated to re-explain these eternal lessons. So for today we thought we'd recount the history of the last major country that tried to spend its way to "stimulus" -- Japan during its "lost decade" of the 1990s.
Dec 16, 2008
Plan Obama
El plan Obama, lo que se dice un éxito seguro. Próximamente en las salas:
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Todo esto es archi sabido. Pero el populismo es más fuerte. Lo único que me da esperanzas es saber que sencillamente no van a tener plata para gastar.
ReplyDeleteTodo sea por sacarle la plata a la que gente que se la gana trabajando y produciendo.
ReplyDelete