"Massive Stimulus"? Hardly

And the Republicans blocked a larger stimulus in hopes of causing them to be able get the presidency this year.

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2012/03/massive-stimulus-hardly.html

Menzie Chinn makes a point I've been trying to emphasize (with less than full success). When people ask why the fiscal stimulus didn't do more to elevate the economy, the right question to ask is what fiscal stimulus? When the federal efforts are combined with the contractions at the state and local level, there was very little net stimulus. That doesn't mean the federal efforts didn't do something positive and important -- if the federal government hadn't offset the state and local contractions things would have been even worse -- but it does mean that people looking for more than simply treading water as evidence that the fiscal stimulus had an impact are asking the wrong question:

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