C-J on the stimulus bill

Here are the C-J editorialists with another mixed bag of analysis and opinion...

Whatever else they think about the $819 billion economic recovery plan passed Wednesday by the U.S. House, all sides should keep in mind that the federal government and the nation are in uncharted waters.

No one really knows if measures contained in the bill will work to resuscitate the economy, which is battered by an extraordinary mix of financial, credit and housing crises.

And if some steps do succeed, which ones will they be and how quickly will we see positive results?

Great comments/questions to open things up...

The one point almost everybody agrees upon is that doing absolutely nothing is not a responsible option. The most promising course is to try a lot of different approaches and see what proves to be helpful.

The first sentence is not true-- among those with some expertise and those without a special interest in seeing more spending. The second sentence is a.) weird; b.) the sort of thing we did in the Great Depression; c.) reminds me of a euphemism regarding offal and a wall; and d.) contradicts the opening (if we do a bunch of stuff, we won't have any better idea of cause and effect after this is over).

That said, House Republicans are right that the bill contains too many items -- such as money for Head Start, the National Endowment for the Arts and Pell Grants for college students -- that have little value as an economic stimulus. Most are worthy causes, but they should be considered as separate legislation -- and appropriations....

Aside from the assertion that such things are "worthy causes", the C-J'ers are definitely correct that they are not particularly "stimulative" and should be considered separately.

The editorialists wrap up with this excellent sentence-- except that it is aimed at Republicans. Again, for the C-J, blame mostly flows one direction.

Narrow political calculations must be put on hold.