Tuesday, September 24, 2013

How stimulative has fiscal policy been?

Not much. Particularly after the initial stimulus spending came to a halt, as you can see in the figure below.
In part this is the result of GOP obstructionism, but also follows Obama's early move to emphasize a balanced approach to the deficit and debt 'problem,' meaning higher taxes and lower spending. Now, it seems, the consensus is that the shutdown will fail, but that does NOT mean that there is more stimulus in the pipeline. So we'll move to the next menace soon, the debt ceiling. Again.

1 comment:

  1. It is an adolescent fantasy that money can be had free of labor.

    The recent round of QE-infinity has pumped over a trillion dollars into the economy. The result? As you suggest, almost negligible growth in the economy (and negative real growth, when discounting government spending).

    It's time for people to start asking what the real motive is behind money-printing. The wealth distribution gap is at an all time high after a century of monetarism and big government.

    ReplyDelete

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