8/19/09 12:37 PMNo, David Broder, Barry Bosworth does NOT repeat NOT Think the Obama Fiscal Stimulus Might Well Turn Out to Be a Flop

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August 16, 2009

No, David Broder, Barry Bosworth does NOT repeat NOT Think the

Obama Fiscal Stimulus Might Well Turn Out to Be a Flop

Sigh...

David Broder:

Experts on Whether It's Too Soon for a Verdict on the Stimulus: Three Brookings scholars and

a suburban Washington mayor agreed on one thing: No one can realistically pronounce the

massive $787 billion stimulus bill either a flop or a triumph at this point.... Economist Barry

Bosworth launched the discussion on a skeptical note, saying that the recession may be ending

but "the government stimulus did not have a lot to do with the recovery"...

I wouldn't call Barry Bosworth an especially good friend of mine, but I know Barry Bosworth, but

David Broder is simply wrong if believes Barry Bosworth is undecided about the worth of Obama's

fiscal boost program--that is "skeptical" and thinks it might be "either a flop or a triumph."

You go to the first page of Bosworth's slides

http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/events/2009/0813_stimulus/bosworth_stimulus_panel.pdf

, and you see "recession is ending," and on the next line you see that the economic expansion that is

likely to begin now has four sources: "low inventory position, automobile demand below

replacement, stimulus spending, monetary stabilization." That's not what you write if you think that

the stimulus might well be a flop.

I can't find a transcript of what Broder went to see on Thursday, but here's Bosworth from last

December:

Getting Through the Economic Meltdown: [W]e have now run the course of major monetary

policy actions... the current situation calls out for large fiscal policy direct impact on the real

sector of the economy.... People used to argue about fiscal stimulus.... There’s no need to choose

anymore, we used to argue that we wanted it to be quick and temporary, now temporary is far

8/19/09 12:37 PMNo, David Broder, Barry Bosworth does NOT repeat NOT Think the Obama Fiscal Stimulus Might Well Turn Out to Be a Flop

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anymore, we used to argue that we wanted it to be quick and temporary, now temporary is far

less important. This recession is going to go on for several more years, so yes we want to be

quick we have to get doing more because as we sit here debating what to do hundreds and

thousands of people are losing their jobs every month, so we got to move more quickly, but I

think the Federal Government can now afford to do things like cutting taxes but they can also

do a lot of expenditures...

Reports to me on the Brookings presentation that David Broder saw say that Bosworth made three

interesting points:

that the big problem with the stimulus was that it was passed not last September--when it

became obvious that it was needed--but rather at the start of February; the four months' delay

was very damaging (not in handout).

that the Obama administration accomplished the remarkable feat of boosting unemployment

benefits and cutting taxes enough to completely offset the fall in disposable income that would

otherwise have taken place in the first half of the year (page 6 of handout).

that we already have a second stimulus on the way in the form of the Obama fiscal 2010 budget;

it's too early to decide whether we need a third one (page 8 of handout).

I understand that the Washington Post is simply not in the business of getting smart, informed

people to write things telling its readers what is going on.

But if we can't have journalism, can't we at least have stenography? Can't the Washington Post have

someone who can accurately summarize what Barry Bosworth said?

UPDATE: chunkyreesewitherspoonlookalike@gmail.com emails:

Brad,

I was at the Brookings forum on stimulus on Thursday and can confirm that your guess was

right; B[arry ]B[osworth]'s view was basically that the best criticisms of the stimulus were that

it was:

1. too slow;

2. too small;

3. too much in silly tax cuts out of which the M[arginal ]P[ropensity to ]C[onsume] will be

much less than 1.

Attaturk FTW with his Shorter David Broder:

Rising Hegemon: Forget the fact that the evidence is clear that the stimulus is aiding in slowly

turning around the economic disaster I pretty much ignored and never understood, some guys

who I cannot understand said some stuff I cannot understand so I'm writing a column about

stuff I cannot understand. Where's my pudding?

RECOMMENDED (5.0) by 8 people like you [How?]

You might like:

Hoisted from Comments: Why the American Right Lies so Much(this site)

It's too early to know if stimulus worked(Chicago Tribune)

8/19/09 12:37 PMNo, David Broder, Barry Bosworth does NOT repeat NOT Think the Obama Fiscal Stimulus Might Well Turn Out to Be a Flop

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Brad DeLong on August 16, 2009 at 08:58 AM in Economics, Economics: Fiscal Policy,

Information: Better Press Corps/Journamalism, Obama Administration, Utter Stupidity | Permalink

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This is the WaPoo. They only do stenography for far right Republicans. It is also Broder, which makes this the best

column he has written in a generation. Of course that still means that it is not even suitable for wiping one's ass.

Posted by: DrDick | August 16, 2009 at 09:28 AM

If you got the print version of the Post, you'd have been treated to a quarter of the front page, plus two inside pages,

of the trials and tribulations of someone scraping by on $300,000 a year. Yes, that's a three followed by five zeroes.

I've not quite figured out why this is scraping by. She got a 10% smaller bonus than last year. That sucks, but isn't a

make or break amount. Buying out her husband from his share of the property in the divorce in 2006 probably had

more to do with it, but that's not due to the recession.

Why is this part of the fallout of the recession? And why is it quarter of the front page of the Post news?

Posted by: Datanerd | August 16, 2009 at 11:22 AM

This is way off topic, but a question: anyone know why only some of the graphs on the right side of the page are

click-able? I'd love to take a closer look at "Modern Economic Growth Is a Historically Recent Phenomenon" and

"Escape from Malthusland", but they don't seem to work.

Oh, and WaPo delenda est or something like that.

Posted by: Cato the Overlooked Middle | August 16, 2009 at 02:39 PM

It's a flop.

Posted by: Nancy Kirsch | August 18, 2009 at 09:21 AM

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8/19/09 12:37 PMNo, David Broder, Barry Bosworth does NOT repeat NOT Think the Obama Fiscal Stimulus Might Well Turn Out to Be a Flop

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