…makes us richer. So cool. However, Pete kind of lost me on the concept of “surplus expenditures.”

Good to hear that Pete’s got an office with a window view.

We’re in good hands.

H/T to Free Advise for linking to these vids.

They really do exist…

So I say that a nation, a people, can be known and be judged by its heroes, by whom it honors above all others. We pay ourselves the greatest compliment when we say that Abraham Lincoln is that man for us.

Worth a read.

Here’s an opinion on The Stimulus and an alternative proposal (which, of course, doesn’t matter since we are all already pregnant).

If you’re a policy nerd, read the whole thing. Otherwise, here are some juice bits…

After decades of diligent research, scholars still argue about what caused the Great Depression — excessive consumption, investment, stock-market speculation and borrowing in the Roaring ’20s, Smoot-Hawley protectionism, or excessively tight monetary policy? Nor do we know how we got out of it: Some credit the New Deal while others say that that FDR’s policies prolonged the Depression.

and…

Similarly, there is no consensus about why huge public-spending projects and a zero-interest-rate policy failed to pull the Japanese out of a prolonged slump.

…proving that the emperor has no clothes — that we really don’t know all that much about what causes meltdowns nor how to fix them.

Stimulus therapy poses great risks. Years of profligacy have put the federal government in a precarious financial position. We don’t have the domestic savings to finance much larger budget deficits. Unlike the Japanese, Americans don’t have much stashed away under their mattresses: We are reliant on capital inflows from abroad. An insurrection by bond vigilantes or the long-predicted run on the dollar triggered by fears of a flood of new government debt is a real possibility.

…oh those darn Black Swans again (see post below).

The Obama administration assures us that it will only fund “worthwhile” and “shovel-ready” projects. But choices will have to be made by harried and fallible humans; witness the nominees who failed to calculate their taxes properly. What’s more, subjecting projects to scrutiny conflicts with a strategy of sparking the economy with a jolt of new spending. We may get the worst of all worlds — savvy and well-connected operators get funding while good projects languish.

…obviously way too pessimistic. After all Congress wrote The Stimulus bill and will be spending the money, so they’ll no doubt do the right thing and allocate our precious tax dollars to the most beneficial projects in a completely apolitical, timely, temporary and targeted manner.

If the current crisis is indeed unprecedented, why not increase the funding and resources to battle-tested measures? When earthquakes or tsunamis strike, we rush in more doctors and supplies. We don’t use untested medical procedures or set up new relief agencies on the fly.

Increasing unemployment insurance, bankruptcy judges, and the FDIC’s capital and staff would certainly cost money, but these targeted expenditures would be much smaller than grandiose measures to revive overall confidence. And while the cautious approach might lead to a slower recovery, we wouldn’t jeopardize the venturesome, pluralistic foundations of our long-run prosperity.

…but then who would get to create all pork??

Bacon is gooooood.