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He Said It! Ctd
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan —
... The issues in the stimulus bill are real ones - the Goldilocks question of how to put together a counter-cyclical measure that will be neither too small nor too big requires some healthy to-and-fro (even if a lot of it is above my professional pay-grade). Leonhardt's column this morning is, as always, clarifying on this. ...
Progressive Breakfast: Attacks Shift From Phony Pork to the Poor
LiberalOasis : The Blog —
... Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Judd Gregg, R-N.H., did not vote.
Baucus, one of the floor managers of the bill, said he expects another attempt to increase infrastructure funding. “It’ll come back again,” he said.
But he appeared to bow to political reality when asked if there would have to be an offset. “We may have to trim up something. I don’t want to say full [offset], but something,” he said.
Why Not Bigger? Why Not More Transit?
NYT's David Leonhardt explores concerns that the bill isn't bigger:
"At these sizes, ...
Stimulus Schmimulus
The Moderate Voice —
... I view the matter through a simpler, less-informed, and potentially less cynical lens than Megan. In short: Provable or not and despite discouraging precedents, it’s probably better to do something than nothing in the current circumstances, although given the unknowables, some compromise on the components of the experiment (e.g., the magnitude of tax incentives vs. public works) is in order — which is essentially what David Leonhardt argues in his column in the print edition of today’s New York Times. ...
Giving Up Before a Fight
Comments from Left Field —
... David Leonhardt of the New York Times raises the interesting point that the longer Congress waits to pass a stimulus package, the higher the cost of that stimulus package will be — because the economy is getting worse. Which is ironic, given that GOP leaders in the Senate are complaining that the bill as it stands is too expensive. ...
The Debate Is Joined
Obsidian Wings —
... Obama’s remarks help bring into focus just how silly and trivial the cable debate has been. Listening to them, you would think this is all a big game – “Is Obama off-message . . . Does the GOP have new energy. . .” What you wouldn't realize from listening to this silly back-and-forth is that there's a very serious economic crisis out there causing real pain and anxiety to a lot of people. Demand is down a lot (accordingly to Obama and others, it’s shrinking in trillions). And so we need to act and we need to act fast. ...
