200 Economists Oppose the Stimulus Plan
“There is no disagreement that we need action by our government, a recovery plan that will help to jumpstart the economy.”
President-Elect Barack Obama, January 9, 2009
President Obama may have been a bit pre-mature in his statement. Contrary to his opinion, several hundred noted economists, along with a few Nobel laureates and scholars feel a bit differently. An ad has been placed by the Cato Institute in major US newspapers expressing their opinion of the government’s plan:
With all due respect Mr. President, that is not true.
Notwithstanding reports that all economists are now Keynesians and that we all support a big increase in the burden of government, we the undersigned do not believe that more government spending is a way to improve economic performance. More government spending by Hoover and Roosevelt did not pull the United States economy out of the Great Depression in the 1930s. More government spending did not solve Japan’s “lost decade” in the 1990s. As such, it is a triumph of hope over experience to believe that more government spending will help the U.S. today. To improve the economy, policymakers should focus on reforms that remove impediments to work, saving, investment and production. Lower tax rates and a reduction in the burden of government are the best ways of using fiscal policy to boost growth.
A pdf copy of the ad can be found at the following link: