The New York Times today has an OpEd piece by Joe Biden and it is such a shallow defense of the stimulus, that is is just one more embarrassment for the Vice President. The irony of this piece is that it readily admits that the "stimulus plan" is nothing more that a spending plan. He "explains" that the plan was designed to unfold over a two year period. By then the problem will have probably solved itself.
Candidly, the economy is going to recover on its own without any of the stimulus spending. There is no doubt that by the end of 2010, the slump will start to be reversed. Had the administration simply put more income into the hands of those who could spend or invest, through tax cuts, there would have been a faster and more cost effective effect. Further, much more of the money should have been put into real construction projects, since the housing crisis was a major part of the slump, those same workers could have been put back to work. But then, that would have been to simple, and all the expansion in the social welfare programs would have been forced to go unfunded.
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