How much is too much?

[airdvr 210]

According to here http://www.recovery.gov/Pages/home.aspx our gov't has pumped $207,000,000,000 into the economy. It appears to be having a positive affect.

I fear an overheated economy, with inflation and high interest rates if we continue. How much is enough?

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[billvon 2,998]

>How much is enough?

I wouldn't put a numeric value on it, since not all stimulus is the same.

Tax cuts - good idea
Accelerated infrastructure spending - good idea
Loan guarantees - not such a good idea
Direct company bailouts - bad idea

In addition, any such stimulus (good or not) should be phased out as we pass economic milestones (say, unemployment, consumer spending or some stock market trigger.)

[Lucky... 0]

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It appears to be having a positive affect.

Gee, ya think? 10 pts of GDP in 2 Q's.... sorry, I can see your despair in that my guy is fixing your guys mess.

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I fear an overheated economy, with inflation and high interest rates if we continue. How much is enough?

OMG, what's that I felt? Part of the sky just fell in my yard.

[airdvr 210]

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It appears to be having a positive affect.

Gee, ya think? 10 pts of GDP in 2 Q's.... sorry, I can see your despair in that my guy is fixing your guys mess.

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I fear an overheated economy, with inflation and high interest rates if we continue. How much is enough?

OMG, what's that I felt? Part of the sky just fell in my yard.

Ahh Lucky. The your guy/ my guy thing is getting old. As far as I can tell printing off 200+ billion greenbacks and floating them is starting to work. I never said anything to the contrary. You missed the whole point of my post, as usual. I guess you don't recall double digit inflation and interest rates.

Oh and let me beat you to the point...it wasn't Carter's fault (your guy) it was Reagan's (my guy). Now that we've gotten that out of the way care to respond to my OP?

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[marks2065 0]

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>How much is enough?

I wouldn't put a numeric value on it, since not all stimulus is the same.

Tax cuts - good idea
Accelerated infrastructure spending - good idea
Loan guarantees - not such a good idea
Direct company bailouts - bad idea

In addition, any such stimulus (good or not) should be phased out as we pass economic milestones (say, unemployment, consumer spending or some stock market trigger.)

finally something I agree with, although we could have just done without the stimulus.

[billvon 2,998]

>although we could have just done without the stimulus.

We could have, although the economy would have recovered more slowly.

Does that mean it was worth it? Hard to say. If the economy improves at a rate fast enough that the money is recovered quickly, it probably was. If the debt service overwhelms that recovery, then probably not. There are some other ancillary benefits (improved infrastructure supports economic growth) and drawbacks (keeping unhealthy companies alive = fewer healthy companies) as well.

[StreetScooby 5]

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Tax cuts - good idea
Accelerated infrastructure spending - good idea
Loan guarantees - not such a good idea
Direct company bailouts - bad idea

In addition, any such stimulus (good or not) should be phased out as we pass economic milestones (say, unemployment, consumer spending or some stock market trigger.)

+1

We are all engines of karma

[kallend 2,027]

Keynes is starting to look pretty good again, after being badmouthed for years.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[marks2065 0]

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>although we could have just done without the stimulus.

We could have, although the economy would have recovered more slowly.

Does that mean it was worth it? Hard to say. If the economy improves at a rate fast enough that the money is recovered quickly, it probably was. If the debt service overwhelms that recovery, then probably not. There are some other ancillary benefits (improved infrastructure supports economic growth) and drawbacks (keeping unhealthy companies alive = fewer healthy companies) as well.

the government needs stop this spending because what you said is going to happen just like it did in the past. Our kids will have a much harder life because of the debt we are leaving them. The only thing I can see making all this spending look positive is if we do have huge inflation, then the debt won't look as large.