Sunday, August 31, 2008

Sunday Shocker

Ben Stein in the NY Times wrote a whole column that I agree with.

"He (Obama) is a fine speaker, and when he talks, he often does so in the nuanced, well-thought-out way that reminds me of my finest law school professors.
But I am a bit worried that his knowledge of economics may not be as extensive as his legal background. In particular, he’s been campaigning with an idea of a second round of economic stimulus to combat the evident slowdown in the economy, to follow President Bush’s first round that is now wrapping up. The first round hasn’t succeeded, and Senator Obama’s ideas aren’t very promising, either.
In that first round, the government has basically borrowed $80 billion to $100 billion and used it to send out checks to most American taxpayers. The hope was that the extra money in taxpayers’ pockets would stimulate consumption."
The focus of the column is not only the ill-advised 2nd stimulus package but also O's reported plan to pay for it but levying a windfall tax on the oil companies, an idea I have written before about (it's stupid).
A liberal newspaper and Ben get it right. Way to go.

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