Economic Stimulus Package

Thought I'd make a few comments about the Economic Stimulus Package ('cause I'm sure everyone wants to know what I think...). Frankly, I'm not entirely sure what to think, for the simple reason that it's difficult to find a clear, fair and balanced description of the thing, much less a cogent assessment of the thing's merits. With all due respect to Senator McCain, I don't care if the bill is bi-partisan or not. I'm more concerned with whether or not it will help.

So, when President Obama describes the part about investing money to make government buildings more energy efficient and weatherize homes, I say Yay! That sounds like it would create jobs now, save money in the long run and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Yay! And when he says there are no earmarks in the bill, again I say Yay!

But making government buildings more fuel efficient is not the whole package (oh no!). What else is in there? Plenty. Is it too much or too little? I don't claim to know.

And when the President talks about economists agreeing with each other, um, I get pretty skeptical. In fact, I was sceptical even before the Cato institute ran this ad, which was signed by like a million economists.

My conclusion? Nobody knows if the bill will work or not. Anyone who is certain about the bill's impact or outcome (positive or negative) is on shaky ground.

We may philosophically like this bill or we may distrust it. We may see it as a confirmation or a repudiation of our beliefs. We may criticize it for being too partisan or not partisan enough. But I'm pretty sure we don't really even know what's in it, let alone whether it'll help or not.

My bottom line - I like some parts, and distrust some other parts. But the people who seem most opposed to it are generally the people whose ideas led to the situation we're in now. So I'm interested to see how President Obama's approach works out...