Stuck on Stimulating Stupid

Written by Brian Garst, Posted in Big Government, Economics & the Economy

For modern day Keynesians, there’s really only one possible solution to fit every set of economic facts – spend more of other people’s money on politically favored projects. It hasn’t worked too well so far.

Image courtesy of Dan Mitchell

Despite the obvious failures of government spending to boost the economy, Keynesian politicians are banging the drums for yet more of the same:

House Democrats this week have amplified their calls for new spending on infrastructure and other federal projects in the face of May’s discouraging job-creation figures.

…”The American people, while concerned about the deficit, place much more emphasis on job creation, and they see a role for the government,” Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) told The Hill. “A fast injection of job stimulus on the public side would help tremendously. … It [the job report] helps our argument about investment.”

I’m an optimist at heart, but sometimes even I wonder if fighting this kind of stupidity is a pointless battle. It really doesn’t matter what the reality is or what the facts show, these people will always call for more government as the solution. “We have a massive spending problem? Who cares, just spend more!”

Cue Joe Biden explaining that we have to spend money to stop from going bankrupt.