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Stimulus 2.0 -- or how I learned to love the lie.
Author: Raine
Date: 07/09/2009 12:39:49
Yesterday, above or below the noise and the din of the Jackson Palin Media channels was another discussion that political wonks seems to be having. It was talk of a second stimulus. With questions being bandied about cable news, online media and the blogosphere like 'will we need a Stimulus 2.0?' and 'are we spending enough?' to the constant drumbeat of how 'the stimulus has been a failure', I was wondering where this idea of a Stimulus 2.0 came from. I have watched the President, I have paid fairly close attention to what is going on. I simply couldn't recall where the meme came from.
Poking around, asking a few questions, as I am known sometimes to do, it turns out that it came from -- you got it --- the media. The title of this article With a Caveat, Hoyer Says He's Open to Second Economic Stimulus sites the following from Steney Hoyer In that very same article, Harry Reid stated that there were no plans for an additional stimulus. Then there was this last paragraph: Whew-- so glad we got that tiny piece of truth out of the way... or did we? Understandably, there has been talk that more work needs to be done. Hoyer and others have stated that additional actions could include extending unemployment benefits, releasing more of the stimulus money sooner, passing new tax cuts, payroll holidays, etc. Everyone is saying it is too early to be talking this idea. It seems as though the meme of a Stimulus 2.0 is still out there thriving.
The Republicans are going to have a talking point field day with something that is not true. During his June 23 press conference, the President stated the following: So about 8-10% of the package has been spent, the President, Harry Reid and others have not stated we need a second one, and still the meme continues. It's my understanding that the bulk of the original package was to be spent in 2010, as people thought things of this sort were supposed to get really bad. Both the President and Vice President said things are worse than we thought. Joe Biden stated on July 5th that is was premature to think of a new stimulus bill. I will let others pontificate on those issues. The ship is, in my opinion still turning around, This chart is a nice little visual. The media seems unable to report subtle things that might require nuance to tell a complete story.
Stimulus 2.0 is a media created story. It a classic example of political projection. It frustrates the heck out of me, because this is just the kind of thing that the GOP will grab onto like a rabid dog. You think the teabaggers aren't going to go nuts about this? There is no second stimulus right now. The only people pushing this idea are the media. I just googled Second Stimulus and there were tons of stories all starting out with the question: Is another Stimulus needed?
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it." For our corporatist media-- This seems to be a truth.
:peace: and
Raine
Poking around, asking a few questions, as I am known sometimes to do, it turns out that it came from -- you got it --- the media. The title of this article With a Caveat, Hoyer Says He's Open to Second Economic Stimulus sites the following from Steney Hoyer
"I think we need to be open to whether we need additional action. We need to continue to focus on bringing the economy back to a place where we're not losing jobs."
Hoyer made no specific proposals for a possible additional stimulus. Others have suggested extended unemployment compensation benefits and a payroll tax holiday.
But on Tuesday, according to news reports, Laura Tyson, a member of the president's Economic Advisory Panel, said that while the current stimulus is of an appropriate size and includes "a significant amount of investment in long-term growth," another may be necessary to put the economy on the right track. Speaking at an economic forum in Singapore, Tyson said she was expressing her own views, not the administration's position.
The Republicans are going to have a talking point field day with something that is not true. During his June 23 press conference, the President stated the following:
Q: Thank you, Mr. President. If I can just return to the economy more generally. When you were selling the economic stimulus package, you talked and your advisors and economists talked about keeping unemployment below 8 percent. Last week you acknowledged that unemployment is likely to reach double digits, being 10 percent. Do you think you need a second stimulus package?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, not yet, because I think it's important to see how the economy evolves and how effective the first stimulus is. I think it's fair to say that -- keep in mind the stimulus package was the first thing we did, and we did it a couple of weeks after inauguration. At that point nobody understood what the depths of this recession were going to look like. If you recall, it was only significantly later that we suddenly get a report that the economy had tanked.
And so it's not surprising then that we missed the mark in terms of our estimates of where unemployment would go. I think it's pretty clear now that unemployment will end up going over 10 percent, if you just look at the pattern, because of the fact that even after employers and businesses start investing again and start hiring again, typically it takes a while for that employment number to catch up with economic recovery. And we're still not at actual recovery yet.
So I anticipate that this is going to be a difficult -- difficult year, a difficult period.
Stimulus 2.0 is a media created story. It a classic example of political projection. It frustrates the heck out of me, because this is just the kind of thing that the GOP will grab onto like a rabid dog. You think the teabaggers aren't going to go nuts about this? There is no second stimulus right now. The only people pushing this idea are the media. I just googled Second Stimulus and there were tons of stories all starting out with the question: Is another Stimulus needed?
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it." For our corporatist media-- This seems to be a truth.
:peace: and
Raine
