View From Down Under

When the economic stimulus bill passed in February, no Republican reps and only two Republican senators supported the bill.

House Republican Leader John Boehner said at the time “Democratic leaders barrelled ahead with their trillion-dollar spending plan that everyone agrees won’t work.”  John McCain showed amazing ignorance of economics with this quote:   “’The American people are beginning to figure out what this package is, that it’s not a stimulus package — it’s a spending package” (as if there is a difference).  He said this as he was introducing amendments to add $75 billion of spending to the package.

With language like this, the Republicans put themselves in a no-win situation.  There is no doubt that government economic stimulus boosts short term economic growth.  This is true both across history and across every economy.  By opposing it, Republicans portrayed themselves as obstructionist and pro-recession.

Now that the economic stimulus package is having a strong positive effect on the economy, Republicans have painted themselves into the ‘Chicken Little’ corner.  The plan that “everyone agrees won’t work” appears to be working pretty well.

The Republican response to the economic data was basically, “OK the economy is growing but where are the jobs now let’s talk about health care”.

With unemployment typically a lagging indicator, and independent research suggesting the stimulus plan has created or saved between 600,000 and one million jobs, no wonder Republicans want to change the subject.