SiberD wrote:
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That does not make the projected outcome without the attempt any more accurate, so how does it "prove" there would have been a better outcome if only we had let the economy continue to fall?
Hahaha! How does one prove something like that Wayne?
That would be the problem of anyone claiming the actions were not a benefit to the economy, as you seem to wish to do.
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BTW, the town I work for was a recipient of some of that money in the form of a forgivable loan to build a new trunk sewer line to an area zoned for business. Ok, that's done now and there it sits with not one potential development coming forward. We got a hell of a deal on the sewer though as we had over a dozen contractors bid on it where we would normally have only a few. But now, the contractor is laying people off because they didn't have any other projects after this one was completed.
So the people would have been laid off sooner and there would not be new infrastructure in place and that did not help the economy?
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You know, it could have gone in a myriad of different ways. It could have been a case where yes, there would be more pain if they hadn't injected money into the economy BUT an actual recovery may happen faster under that scenario instead of prolonging the misery, which is what I believe is happening now.
Pigs may sprout wings and fly around the barnyard, but it is not very likely. Just as it is not very likely an economic recovery would happen faster without any governmental spending.
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And the debt to the taxpayers. That debt should have been forced upon the banks, and stock holders, who gambled with all those mortgage backed securities, credit default swaps, and other exotic financial instruments that nobody fully understood but only cared that they were making a killing with them. Instead, we bailed them out with the pretense that it would open the credit markets back up but that didn't happen, did it?
Yes, it did. The banks were refusing short term loans to other banks. The number of loan programs which disappeared without warning was scary, but now some have returned and more are available as time passes.
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But you'd rather we spend more to get out of debt and reward the people responsible for this mess?
Nice strawman you have created there. The economic downturn and debt are two separate issues and as they are interconnected the lesser of two evils was our choice. The political underpennings of your position are clear. I suspect you would have some point of opposition regardless of what was done.