Pennywise, dollar foolish

Trust me, we don't make this stuff up. This great and wonderful Oz, I mean, stimulus plan will provide a short-term boost, but have negative effects in the long run. This is not me, but Dr. Douglas Elmendorf, director of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. This is what he says, in part, in his blog:

We estimate that the legislation will raise gross domestic product (GDP) and increase employment in the short run—by adding to aggregate demand and boosting the utilization of labor and capital. In contrast, we expect that the legislation will reduce output slightly in the long run because the resulting increase in government debt will tend to “crowd out” private investment and thereby reduce the stock of productive private capital. That crowding-out effect will be diminished to the extent that some of the funding in the legislation will go for activities that could add to the nation’s long-term output.

At the risk of repeatedly sounding redundant and saying the same thing over and over, again and again, time after time, Congress has risked our future for a short-term gain.

Is this want one of our founding fathers called pennywise and dollar foolish? Let's borrow our way to prosperity. Oh, that's right, that won't work.

Our wonderful, loving and benevolent government is going to "crowd out" private investment, thereby reducing our freedoms and liberty.

We need an infusion of Ronaldus Magnus about now.