This week’s Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report is the latest addition to a voluminous body of evidence that government spending is a poor way to jump-start the economy. That’s bad news for the $825 billion economic stimulus package that President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi insists is desperately needed right now. But, CBO found that only $136 billion – less than half of the $355 billion House leaders plan to allocate to infrastructure and other discretionary programs – would even be spent by 2010. This raises obvious questions about the wisdom of a multi-billion dollar “stimulus” package that will provide precious little stimulus – except for Washington lobbyists and bureaucrats – until well after the current recession has become history.
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