After listening to Representative Paul Ryan in the vice-presidential debate,
you might think that careful evaluation isn’t needed. In his view, we
spent $800 billion on the stimulus, yet unemployment still rose to 10
percent — so obviously it wasn’t helpful.
To understand what’s wrong with that reasoning, think of someone who’s
been in a terrible accident and has massive internal bleeding. After
lifesaving surgery, the patient still feels rotten. But we shouldn’t
conclude from this lingering pain that the surgery was useless — because
without it, the patient would have died...
The ultimate verdict on the Recovery Act will depend in part on further
studies. I believe that as more research occurs and the political rancor
fades, the fiscal stimulus will be viewed as an important step at a
bleak moment in our history. Not the knockout punch the administration
had hoped for, but a valuable effort that improved the lives of many.
There is no ultimate verdict. Month by month, since she put out her paper, I have tracked and reported on her grossly inaccurate predictions. Fact! She has never even been close in her predictions.
The surgical analogy is absurd! In this case she promised specific improvement, by the month and by the numbers. Never Happened!
If a surgeon performed an operation and charged you a fortune and promised certain levels of specific improvement and it did not happen, welcome to a lawsuit! But in her case it just needs further study. I have been viewing the fiscal stimulus in the light of what she and her colleague said would happen, I did not make up the numbers, she did. How can one have the gall to write this?
No wonder with people like this we are in such a mess, and we keep educating more of them, or perhaps we should call it indoctrination.
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