Don't Distract Me With Facts

Let's close our eyes and believe in 'stimulus.'

JOHN FUND

David Axelrod, Barack Obama's chief political strategist, was slightly irritated by the latest findings from the Congressional Budget Office, which doubted any quick benefit to the economy from Mr. Obama's stimulus plan.

CBO, a group of economists whose head is appointed by Democratic Congressional leaders, reported on Sunday that less than $4 billion of the $30 billion in new highway construction money included in the current Obama "stimulus" package would enter the economy's bloodstream by 2010. Other spending, such as that promoting renewable energy, broadband Internet connections and jobs programs, wouldn't have any impact on the economy for at least a year.

Mr. Axelrod told Fox News that he didn't view the CBO findings as important. He said the government has no choice but to act quickly in the current "national emergency" and "that a lot of these investments are ones that are going to pay dividends in the short term and the long term." He didn't mention CBO's projections that the annual deficit is slated to hit $1.2 trillion dollar this year even without any new stimulus spending.

Stimulus packages already have a checkered history when it comes to the current economic downturn. Last year, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hailed the rebate checks that were sent out to prevent a slowdown as "timely, targeted and temporary." The rebates were none of those things, and appear to have done little to help the economy.

Despite this, Democrats -- and many Republicans -- are hell-bent on passing an enormous government spending program that will push up the share of the economy dominated by Washington D.C. well beyond its traditional 20% of GDP. Even some Democrats wonder if emulating the New Deal's frantic experimentation and intervention is a good idea. One Blue Dog Democratic House Member reminded me earlier this month of the saying that "insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." He wondered if his fellow Members weren't more in need of advice from psychiatrists than from economists at this point.