Amendment-- But, you won't hear it, you're too convinced that doing _nothing_ is better than doing nothing. Should read-- But, you won't hear it, you're too convinced that doing _nothing_ is better than doing *something.*
-Lance On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 11:43 AM, Lance McCulley <[email protected]>wrote: > This particular something has not been tried, and your pathetic attempt to > equate our two countries is driving me batty. When the stimulus was passed, > the spending didn't ensue. Thus, the point of stimulus, to spend, never > occurred at the desired rate, canceling any good that could have come from > it. > > *Myths and truths about Japan's stimulus > > * >> >> Conservative critics like the Wall Street Journal's editorial board have >> been using Japan's experience as evidence to be wary of stimulus packages >> altogether. In an editorial last month entitled "Barack Obama-san," the >> Journal listed all of Japan's stimulus attempts, and then intoned: "Not to >> spoil the party, but [stimulus spending] is not a new idea...How do you say >> 'good luck' in Japanese?" >> >> However, as in any reading of history, the closer you look the more >> nuanced the lessons. For many, the moral of the story isn't that Japan erred >> in deciding to use fiscal policy to fix their economy -- its failure was in >> the execution. >> >> For one thing, there was dubious logic behind too many of Japan's >> infrastructure projects. "It was the epitome of bridges to nowhere," says >> economist Ed Lincoln, director of the Center for Japan-U.S. Business and >> Economic Studies at New York University. "There was apparently a $2 billion >> bridge built to an island of 800 people." >> >> And even before the financial crisis hit, Japan was wasting money on >> pork-barrel projects, *so by the time the Japanese ramped up spending in >> the 1990s, they had run out of worthy projects to fund*. The United >> States, by comparison, has a long list of needy spots. (Witness the >> Minneapolis bridge collapse in 2007.) > > >> > Finally, any action by the government needs to be done swiftly and >> decisively. >> >> The Japanese government's efforts were spread over several years but it >> was as if its leaders couldn't pick one strategy and stick to it. *After >> passing a series of stimulus packages in the early 1990s, the economy showed >> signs of improving; by 1995, GDP was growing at roughly an annual rate of >> 2.5%.* >> >> And *then the government took a fateful step*. Worried about its growing >> debt, Japan *raised its consumption tax* two percentage points, to 5%, in >> 1997. And the economy, by now also hobbled with deflation, sunk into a >> recession. > > --http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/21/news/economy/yang_japan.fortune/ > > But, you won't hear it, you're too convinced that doing _nothing_ is better > than doing nothing. Exactly, what evidence is this based on? > > You agree that WWII is what ended the Great Depression. Well, we spent > hundreds of millions of dollars. It was unprecedented at the time, but it > worked. When we were in a recession in 2001-2003, what got us out of it was > spending hundreds of billions of dollars on the Iraq invasion. Again, > spending worked. > > Where's the evidence that doing nothing will create much needed jobs? Sorry > Jarrad, but I'm not willing to do _nothing_ on the hopes that something will > come of it, and neither is Sen. Specter, a Republican. What you are > suggesting is plain arrogant foolishness. You wouldn't argue that you can > win a basketball game by standing on the sidelines. So, what makes you think > that sitting on the sidelines during the most economic troubling time of our > generation, is a good idea? > > -Lance > > > > On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 11:19 AM, Jarrad Reiner <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Yes, we're all familiar with the tired pathetic excuse "we have to do >> something".Except this particular something has been tried many times >> before; See Japan (mid 1990's) >> >> Jarrad >> >> >> >> >> On Feb 9, 2009, at 2:12 PM, Lance McCulley wrote: >> >> I am supporting the economic stimulus package for one simple reason: The >>> country cannot afford not to take action. >>> The unemployment figures announced Friday, the latest earnings reports >>> and the continuing crisis in banking make it clear that failure to act will >>> leave the United States facing a far deeper crisis in three or six months. >>> By then the cost of action will be much greater -- or it may be too late. >>> Wave after wave of bad economic news has created its own psychology of >>> fear and lowered expectations. As in the old Movietone News, the eyes and >>> ears of the world are upon the United States. Failure to act would be >>> devastating not just for Wall Street and Main Street but for much of the >>> rest of the world, which is looking to our country for leadership in this >>> crisis. >>> >> -- >> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/08/AR2009020801710.html >> -Lance >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Politically Opinionated Outspoken People Expounding Religion" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/pooper?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
