THE ECONOMY, STUPID
THE CAT’S IN THE BAG
Last week I attended a session presented by the business school at one of our best-known universities. The words floating around had a lot of letters and were erudite in style, but they painted the following picture.
When is a stimulus not a stimulus?
When it’s good old-fashioned pork.
When is the list of projects that the stimulus law actually finances going to be released by Congress?
Not soon.
Why?
It would let the cat out of the bag.
Why is the job market not improving?
Most jobs are with small business.
So?
Small business has been left out of the stimulus law passed by Congress, and has to spend too much time complying with overlapping, and often contradictory and confusing, federal, state and local regulations.
What’s the prediction for our 2010 economy?
Not good. We need job recovery.
Why is China doing better than we are?
It’s not, but it aimed its stimulus to where it has more effect on workers’ pocket books.
Why is the stock market doing so well?
You think? The institutions that make trading and investing other people’s money their business need to trade and invest. The market was oversold in February/March and has bounced back some, but it’s still down over 35% from one year ago.
When will we get back to normal?
Only 59% of Americans are actually in the work force. Maybe that is the new normal.
We need to get back at least to where we can plan and work. Why doesn’t Congress pass another stimulus package?
That would require they’re telling us where the last one went.