Economy: Doing Something Is Better Than Doing Nothing

Republicans love to criticize the stimulus package that Obama put through a couple years ago. Congressman Kline said recently that the stimulus created "debt not jobs." And when the economy is as bad as this, it gives critics plenty of fodder.

However, an economy as bad as this needs more help than we seem to be willing to give it. The original stimulus package ended up at $830 billion. A lot of money by any measure but, as Paul Krugman pointed out at the time, it was not enough considering the magnitude of the problem. After all, we used $700 billion to bail out just one economic sector alone—the banks.

At the time (2009), Obama wanted a bipartisan solution and he mixed tax cuts into the stimulus. Infrastructure got a good portion but the impact was slow to fruition and the projects are still being implemented. Obama's package also had about one-third geared to shore up state budgets and minimize the layoffs that would ensue. A lot of states with Republican governors made more political use of that money rather than its intended economic utilization.

When we look back on this in the history books, I suspect that the stimulus will be seen as something that saved us from falling into the abyss, but was too little to really pull the economy off of the ledge. All of this managed to serve a political pupose for the Republicans. It kept the economy stagnant and thus enhanced their ability to make Obama "own" the economy he inherited.

The new stimulus "lite," which is the American Jobs Act, actually has the capability of providing more positives than negatives. There is more emphasis on infrastructure, and the tax cuts are targeted to payroll cuts... putting money into the hands of people who can actually create more demand. There is also an aid package for local governments to keep teachers and first responders working. By any measure, those jobs are important and need to be maintained.

Again, it is probably not enough to move us into some kind of economic resurrection, but it has the capability of continuing our slow movement away from the cliff. We need to stimulate activity. We need to get construction workers back to work and keep government employees from joining the unemployment line.

This isn't some pie-in-the-sky economic theory. It is investment in people. People who can be productive and add to economic activity. It should be an easy vote for any Congressman or woman. This economy needs a jolt.

Yet, Republicans would rather do nothing. They tell us that the only way to get out of this mess is to grow the economy. Grow? How? Business sits on a mountain of cash waiting for something to happen. Meanwhile roads and bridges continue to deteriorate and long-term unemployment has no end game.

Maybe the American Jobs Act won't be an answer. Maybe it will be just another blip on the radar. But the American people are looking for action and fixing bridges and keeping teachers in the classroom is going to be a net positive regardless.

Sure deficits are a concern. They are always a concern. But we can either add to the debt by utilizing government help for people or we can add to the debt by watching unemployment lines get longer and more businesses fail. I would choose the former.

Action is always better than doing nothing.