Stimulus package

A chief criticism of the $787 billion economic stimulus bill, enacted in February, was that too large a portion went to tax cuts in lieu of spending. Critics, including some conservative economists, argued that people would simply save that money, rather than spending it to stimulate the economy.
Showing signs that they can learn from history, [...]

What is it with Paul Krugman, anyway? The Nobel economist with the dour outlook is becoming the most unlikely of pop icons. First, there was, “Hey Paul Krugman,” a ditty praising his virtues, especially compared with those of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, that flew around the blogosophere. Now, via Calculated Risk, comes “The Krugman Blues,” [...]

Thomas Frank has a terrific op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today, praising President Obama’s recent presidential memorandum declaring the end of an era of unrestrained government outsourcing.
The president “meant to put the kibosh on the GOP’s favorite method for spreading the wealth around,” Frank writes, noting the astronomical growth of federal spending under former [...]

Turns out the final language included in the agreed-upon stimulus bill does indeed include protections for employees of government contractors — like KBR, Halliburton, etc. — who report fraud, waste and abuse of taxpayer money, even if they report within their own company rather than to an outside government agency.
As I reported earlier, that protection [...]

For two weeks, Republicans cited polls from Rasmussen Reports to prove that the stimulus package “proposed by Barack Obama and the Congressional Democrats” was fading in popularity, and that their push to stop it was winning converts. Today’s poll on the stimulus suggests that President Obama’s publicity blitz has reversed the trend and won over [...]

One of the greatest obstacles to overarching energy policy reform is likely to come in the form of a group of moderate Democratic senators from states that rely heavily on manufacturing. Among this so-called Gang of 16 is Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who is also a member of the Senate Subcommittee on Energy, Science and [...]

From the Department of Labor today comes more news that this recession will be around for a while: In January alone, 598,000 more Americans lost their jobs, raising the country’s unemployment rate from 7.2 percent to 7.6 percent — the highest tally in 16 years. Since December 2007, 3.6 million Americans have lost their jobs.
So [...]

Investing in new education programs or hiring more teachers are worthy goals, but school construction is better suited for the stimulus package.

Another day. Another expansion of the Democrats’ stimulus proposal — and not in ways we might have anticipated.
The House Ways and Means Committee approved its portion of the $825 billion stimulus package Thursday afternoon, including $275 billion in tax cuts.
While the original bill would allow businesses to recover taxes paid over the last five years [...]

Via Rooflines, the blog of the National Housing Institute, here’s a way to think about using money from the stimulus package to encourage smart growth and transit. It’s courtesy of the National Resources Defense Council, which has created a map with that details 70 communities that could be transformed into more livable, sustainable places, if [...]