Obama, in this fanciful version, held up his hand. He told his aides to put away the history books and reject the New Deal comparisons. Unlike in 1932, Americans today have a raging distrust of Washington, he observed. Living through a crisis caused by excessive debt, they will viscerally recoil at the prospect of federal debt without end. “Somehow,” Obama concluded, “we have to address the crisis without further terrifying the American people.” The stimulus package, he continued, should rely heavily on cutting payroll taxes. This, he argued, will send a quick jolt to the economy without concentrating power in Washington. It will deliver a sharp psychological boost to the middle class. It might even be bipartisan. Obama noted that John McCain had a $445 billion stimulus plan along these lines and his fellow Republican senator, Mel Martinez, a $713 billion plan.
David Brooks - The Alternate History - NYTimes.com
David Brooks is an idiot. Total fucking idiot.
(via sexartandpolitics)
A payroll tax holiday was my #1 choice for stimulus all along. The payroll tax is the worst tax you can imagine — it is literally a tax on work and jobs. The stimulus has failed at its stated objectives (remember that chart showing unemployment at 8% without the stimulus, and 7% with? yeah…) and if you’re going to have another stimulus, a payroll tax holiday/cut is still the best candidate.
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