Stimulus Size
Friday, January 9th, 2009Obama, speaking very reasonably about concerns that his stimulus package isn’t big enough:
If Krugman thinks $800 billion isn’t going to get our economy going, it makes sense for him to say so. But we’re at far too early a stage to justify his histrionics about it. The real debate over the bill hasn’t even started yet, and we have very little idea what other bills are going to be introduced in the early days of the new administration that will also spend money in a relevant way. There simply isn’t anything to get worked up about yet.
Meanwhile, I’m with Felix Salmon on the meaninglessness of Obama’s goal to “create or save” 3 million jobs. It might be sound politically though, as a reassuring sound-byte that can’t come back to haunt him. Unlike a net increase in jobs, a “saved job” isn’t the sort of thing you can measure. I could buy a six-pack at the corner store and claim I’d saved 3 million jobs. I’d be lying, but as long as there were still more than 3 million people in the country working, it’s not clear how you could prove me wrong.
