Sophomore Andrew Clark, a Hatchet columnist, argues that it is time to seriously reconsider the spending stimulus.
“Is our generation of smart, young, ambitious students really going to settle with what the Obama Administration is doing to the economy? “
Commentary from the opinions editors, op-ed columnists and The Hatchet's Editorial Board
Director of the GW Institute for Nanotechnology Michael Keidar spent the last three years developing a cancer cell-killing medical device that he said could revolutionize the disease’s treatment worldwide.
The problem with growing up is that there is always someone telling us we are not old enough. And yet, you would think that as young adults, we would finally be over it.
What’s not to love about graduation season? It is filled with senior send-offs, family get-togethers and free food.
GWids are the equivalent of students’ social security numbers on campus.
Transfer students do not enroll at GW for the Mount Vernon Campus experience. They come here to take advantage of city life in Foggy Bottom.
As camera flashes flickered over a sea of tassels, two Columbian College of Arts and Science professors urged graduates to cast their fears aside and forge fresh paths to success.
I never understood why people refer to cities as if they were human until I left Sevilla, Spain. My feelings toward leaving my newfound home are so complex, it's as if I am leaving the love of my life.
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Every generation apparently must experience the disaster of a Jimmy Carter and this group just elected their very own in triplicate
Well, I wonder when it will sink in that they sold there entire future for a inexperienced conman who has only two abilities.
Reading asinine phrases from a teleprompter and spending other people’s money. Obama has been on the public dole for his entire life and has used other people’s money to enrich himself and his friends for years.
Sad really that young people put him in power and he is p*ssing away their money and the money of their children like a drunken undergrad at Mardi Gras. Because of Obama\Pelosi\Reid, every college student currently studying will be faced with huge additional taxes and less economic opportunity.
And even worse, the increased taxes will not be for the needs of the country at that time but simply to payoff what Obama has squandering in just two weeks of office.
Oh now that the republicans are out of the White House, NOW you want to reign in spending. I didn’t see you preaching fiscal conservatism when George W. Bush was spending money like a drunken sailor.
I was surprised when I read this article to finally see a decent criticism of the stimulus- the risk of default on our debt. I was disappointed to see that you predicted a response on Keynesian economics, but that you didn’t preempt it.
Economists on both sides of the aisle agree that FDR created a depression within the depression when he decided to cut spending. When we get impatient with the economy, we make stupid decisions. If you think Obama is responsible for what is happening right now, then you’ll be furious at the end of 2010 when growth and asset values have continued to decline. Sorry, that’s just what the forecasts say.
Regarding default: You have not proven that the stimulus is responsible for the increase in default risk (you have also not described how large this increase is, since there is always a minute chaos-oriented chance of the US defaulting). Without the stimulus we could be in a much worse recession, in which tax revenues would plummet, and we would risk defaulting on our still-large pre-stimulus deficit.
There are better reasons to oppose the Obama “stimulus.”
If you read the bill [I've read most of the pdf] it’s easy to spot that “stimulus” is really a misnomer; if we’re going to be realistic about this, we should just call it a spending package.
Even a cursory check of the bill reveals that it’s just government stimulating government. Problem is, our congress didn’t even read the bill before they voted on it!
Unfortunately for us college students, more spending now means higher taxes later. Andrew is right to focus on that aspect of the stimulus debate, but didn’t really question the nature of the big government programs congress is spending this money on.
An effective argument needs to include the specifics of the bill, which are unfortunately too numerous for a 500 word editorial to cover.
It’s the details of the stimulus bill itself that undermine its intent. So let’s get into some specifics. For those of you who support the bill, I ask you this: how will spending $6.2 billion for the “Weatherization Assistance Program,” $87 million for a polar icebreaking ship and $1.4 billion for rural waste disposal programs benefit our economy? Furthermore, how will such massive spending initiatives help us reduce our deficit?
Total output = Total income
More or less true for any economy. The truth is, it really doesn’t matter what you spend the money on- so long as money is spent, someone earns it, and they spend it again, and someone else earns it, and then THEY spend it, and so forth- spending always increases output which increases income. That is stimulation. So to say that stimulus is a misnomer for spending is incredibly foolish. ECONOMICS!