Stimulus Efforts: Too Small or Wasted Money?

 

It seems like there are two camps on the question posed by the title of this thread.  Paul Krugman holding the first position that the stimulus was too small (we will not go there, for those of you thinking innuendo), and the second camp, mainly composed of conservatives, who complain that the results of the stimulus has not helped that much and is producing crushing debt.  It would seem to me that evidence for both positions could be found.

See this link:  http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/07/second-stimulus-debate-geithner-vs.html

I have never taken an economics class, but I am impressed by the fuzziness of the discipline.  I am interested in psychology, so I am reasonably tolerant of methodological uncertainty. Is there such a thing as experimental economics?

If we look at history, one interpretation is that the stimulus programs of FDR in the 1930’s were successful, in at least making a bad situation less worse.  Does that sound familiar, or not? 

Amity Shlaes suggests that the FDR administration’s hostility toward wealthy people and the ineffectiveness of government interventions actually prolonged the great depression.  In fairness RE: this source,  Shlaes is a conservative Wall Street Journal editorial commentator.

http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780066211701/The_Forgotten_Man/index.aspx

So, who is correct in their assessment?  The right, the left, both, or neither – please offer your opinion; it can’t be any worse or better than those out there already.  Thanks!

iggy donnelly

Chris Hughes: Obama’s “Internet Man”

    

Twenty-five year old, Chris Hughes, who helped develop the sensation site, Facebook, was also the person Obarack Obama called his “Internet Man.”

During the campaign he worked on the general website, but his biggest contribution came in his networking site My.BarackObama.com, or MyBO for short.  MyBO allowed supporters to organize meet-ups, form 35,000 groups, post 400,000 blogs, and raise $30 million with personal fund-raising pages.

Obama was not available to comment on this article, but the ever present campaign manager, David Plouffe, noted “We were very lucky that Chris gravitated to the campaign early.”  The importance of social networking took on new meaning after the campaign’s loss to Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire.  Plouffe continues, “We were there to support the people, but that simply would not have been possible if we did not have a set of online tools that enabled us to do that.  It wan’t just a tactic.  Chris made that possible.”

Chris was the developer that made Facebook “work”.  His role there was described as “part anthopologist, part customer service rep, and part media spokesperson.

For more info read the article linked above.

iggy donnelly

 

Captions please.

Tuesday, 07/21/09, Public Square

That’s some deep thinking.

Wanna share those deep thoughts?

fnord