Not Doing Enough

John Judis of the New Republic points out that an $800 billion stimulus package will not do nearly enough to bring our country out of this recession.  It's a beginning.

Judis goes on to say that we need to fight this as a war and on two fronts:  at home and internationally by bringing stability to the International Monetary Fund.  Given that our world is so much more connected than it was during the depression in the 30's, I would agree that it is imperative.  It's an interesting article, and I encourage you to click on the link and read the entire article. It sums up the problem and potential solutions nicely.

There's much to like in Obama's plan. But there are two important ways he may have to go further. Most economists agree that what finally pulled the U.S. out of the Great Depression was military spending for World War II. Some liberals argue that if the Roosevelt administration had not abandoned a Keynesian stimulus strategy in 1937-38, the U.S. might have gotten out of the depression without a war. But in 1936, unemployment was still at 16.9 percent; by 1942, after two years of war spending, it was 4.7 percent, strongly indicating that it was war spending that did it. I am not suggesting that the United States start a world war in order to solve the world's economic problem. But I am suggesting a strategy that could be called the fiscal equivalent of war.

Not Doing Enough