stimulating conversation

Second Stimulus About As Unpopular As You’d Expect

On Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would “keep the door open” to passing a second stimulus on top of the $787 billion package enacted last month, as Paul Krugman and other economists believe is necessary. Pelosi was referring to some potential future point in time, not now, since everyone agrees it will take more than three weeks before we can determine if the first stimulus worked. But in the wake of all the promiscuous spending Congress has been doing recently — and the heat they’ve taken for it — the mere mention of another stimulus is, to members of both parties, about as appetizing as a plate of vomit-covered monkey brains.

Enough for now. No mas. No mas,” said Democratic senator Tom Carper, breaking into Spanish so as to adequately stress his opposition. Other Democrats Politico talked to were similarly uninterested in backing another stimulus. Naturally, Eric Cantor took this opportunity to claim that “Democrats are already conceding that [the first stimulus] will fail to achieve its objective.” Of course, as in war — and we’re apparently in an economic war now — it doesn’t make sense to take any option off the table. But the lesson here, for Nancy Pelosi, might be to at least not talk about the objectionable ones until we have to.

Second stimulus? Never heard of it! [Politico]

Second Stimulus About As Unpopular As You’d Expect