The following sentence from the latest TIME magazine inspired a Jon Sanders-style facepalm:
Economists who have left the Obama Administration, including the former top economist Christina Romer, say more stimulus is needed.
But then I read the next sentence:
“The risk is that what we are facing now is many years of anemic growth,” says Romer, who believes it’s time for a cut in payroll taxes on employers.
Despite Michael Scherer’s best efforts to blur the distinction, there’s a huge difference between “stimulus” linked to government spending and the real stimulus linked to lowering tax rates and allowing taxpayers to spend, save, and invest their own money.
Our economy certainly could benefit from more of the latter.
