His problem was not only that it was too small, but it was spread out over too long a period. I don’t recall his numbers, but I think it was around 40% too small and it was being spread out over a period of 2-3 times too long.

And if the stimulus didn’t get spent like it was supposed to, why should we trust the government with a second stimulus plan to not spend like it’s supposed to?

I’m still missing the connection as to how the stimulus the Democrats passed last year is inadequate if that money was designated for those types of projects. If the states took federal money and appropriated it to different uses, that seems like a different problem than the size of the stimulus.

I think some states just used the money to meet budget shortfalls so they wouldn’t have make cuts or raise taxes. I guess that counts as “jobs saved.” Government jobs.

But where to spend the stimulus seems more of an intuitive thing. There are some measurements, to be sure. Some people have studied what types of government spending are more likely to yield jobs, increased commerce, etc. But in the mad rush to pass something, what really happened was all the giddy Democrats just pulled out their favorite pork projects and tossed it all in.

Nevertheless, it seems intuitively obvious to me that some types of spending — like roads, airports, railroad tracks, expanded internet access, police in crime-infested neighborhoods, and education — have a clear and direct influence on the economy.

If the economists say we had to spend the money (which we didn’t have!), at least they could have spent it on this sort of thing.

So what am I missing? What needs to be added, and how much should it have been?

FWIW, I predict a repeat of the mistakes that fed the Great Depression: a too-feeble stimulus, chickening out over idiotic worries about deficits, and a plunge into a deep, deep abyss.

And we will forever be the only industrialized country in the world that has no reasonable health care plan, spends way too much on lousy results, and uses stone-age measurement systems that make absolutely no sense at all.

But as it happens, I have other things to worry about. Shit floats, especially in politics and business, and there is nothing I can do about it. I’m going to listen to Jethro Tull, brew beer, and make plans to bug out when it becomes intolerable.

“I don’t want to work, I just want to bang on the drum all day…”

The fact that it does so at the expense of the poor minority lower class is beside the point – especially since they dont vote much.

Duke University’s Michael Munger said it best when he wrote, “We should just call it the “Legislation To Increase the Salaries of Middle Class White Union Workers Who Contribute Big Bucks to Ted Kennedy.” Then, at least we would be honest about who is benefitting.”

On smaller government: I may need John to help me get his quote right: “People are in favor of smaller government until they realize it will mean smaller government.”

On minimum wage: I agree there should be no national minimum wage. Like almost everything else, it’s a state matter. Samoa would have anticipated the consequences and set the minimum wage at something that the tuna industry would accept.

On flat tax: Two forces are against this. 1) The tax industry. A ridiculous portion of the economy relies on a complicated tax system: lawyers, accountants, preparers, IRS workers. 2) It is the primary means for an administration to reward and punish as well as influence individual behavior.