Saturday, December 20, 2008

LOUIS UCHITELLE: Maybe It Can’t - A Trap in Obama’s Spending Plan - NYTimes.com

Source: NYTimes.com: “That is the risk facing Mr. Obama’s plan. By January, Congress will probably be asked to approve an outlay of more than $700 billion. Spent in one year on construction, research or equipment, it might well offset the contraction at first. But unless it also revived general confidence, the economy could collapse again, once the money was gone.

“If that spending can’t get the private sector going, then it is just a make-work maintenance operation,” said Stanley Moses, an economist at Hunter College in New York.”

-- I disagree with this because it ignores the ripple effects of spending in the form of architects, caterers, construction vehicles, and other local spending due to these projects. we've let billions in roads and public works go without repair for decades. There's a lot of work out there. But spending for a manufacturing public works effort would go a longer way toward rebuilding the economy.

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