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links for 2009-01-29
Economist's View — ... Jr. Zombie data, zombie banks - The Edge of the American West In defence of crass materialism (temporarily) - Nick Rowe Rewriting the rulebook for 21st-century capitalism - Jeffrey Sachs Geithner Says Overall Financial Plan Being Readied - NYTimes.com Mail Delivery May Be Cut, Postmaster General Warns - NYTimes.com Ricardian Equivalence and government spending - Nick Rowe An $800 Billion Mistake - Martin Feldstein On the Failure of Macroeconomists - ...

Assorted links
Marginal Revolution — 1. How to fail metaphysics at the University of Hawaii. 2. The paradox of underrated? 3. Martin Feldstein is skeptical about the stimulus bill. 4. Jeremy Stein and Jeffrey Liebman to the Obama administration. 5. Kidney donation doesn't seem to lower lifespan. 6. Our epistemological depression.

The $800 Billion Stimulus Mistake
Club for Growth — ... In today's Washington Post, he writes an article that begins: "As a conservative economist, I might be expected to oppose a stimulus plan. In fact, on this page in October, I declared my support for a stimulus. But the fiscal package now before Congress needs to be thoroughly revised. In its current form, it does too little to raise national spending and employment. It would be better for the Senate to delay legislation for a month, or even two, if that's what it takes to produce a much better bill. We cannot afford an $800 billion mistake." ...

Thursday links: gold sentiment
Abnormal Returns — ... “The problem with the current stimulus plan is not that it is too big but that it delivers too little extra employment and income for such a large fiscal deficit.”   (WashingtonPost.com) ...

Stimulus Criticism Mounts
Kudlow's Money Politic$ — ... GOP economist Martin Feldstein revoked his prior support of a stimulus plan in this morning’s Washington Post. “In its current form,” Feldstein wrote, “[the plan] does too little to raise national spending and employment. It would be better for the Senate to delay legislation for a month, or even two, if that’s what it takes to produce a much better bill. We cannot afford an $800 billion mistake.” ...

Shelve the Stimulus
Kudlow's Money Politic$ — ... GOP economist Martin Feldstein revoked his prior support of a stimulus plan in Wednesday’s Washington Post. "In its current form," Feldstein wrote, "[the plan] does too little to raise national spending and employment. It would be better for the Senate to delay legislation for a month, or even two, if that’s what it takes to produce a much better bill. We cannot afford an $800 billion mistake." ...

An $800 Billion Mistake
Michael Covel: Trend Following Manifesto — ... I love this word “stimulus” - can mean anything! Martin Feldstein offers a view today in The Washington Post: “An $800 Billion Mistake“. ...

Economists across the Political Spectrum. Not.
Cato @ Liberty — ... . This time, knowing that his claim might be doubted, he cited the one conservative economist who has famously endorsed a large stimulus — Martin Feldstein of Harvard — but didn’t quite acknowledge that Feldstein has called Obama’s plan “An $800 Billion Mistake.” ...

“Economists across the Spectrum” Continue to Flee Stimulus Bill
Cato @ Liberty — ... Democrats lost Feldstein on Thursday when the Harvard professor published a Washington Post op-ed declaring the House bill “an $800 billion mistake” laden with ineffective provisions. ...

Does Bipartisanship = Bigger Government?
Cato @ Liberty — ... of the bipartisanship. And in this case the core of the controversy is whether a government running a $1 trillion deficit should spend another $820 billion (which willl almost certainly be more after it emerges from conference committee) that it doesn’t have. The Post asserts that the bill is “aimed at providing the quick and large injection of funds into the economy experts say is necessary.” But the Post knows very well that many economists disagree with that claim. The Democratic and Republican senators who have made possible the ...