The stimulus Scam

Political arguments have resulted in a stimulus package that will do enormous damage to the economy. The idea is simple, just have the government write everyone a rebate check, and these rebate recipients will spend most of the money and create enough demand to pull the economy out of its slowdown. With a little luck, the people who supply the rebate recipients with their newly demanded products will also spend part of their added income on yet more products, and so on and so forth until the full effect of the rebate is multiplied manifold and provides a much greater and much needed boost to the economy.
But there’s also collateral damage that few understand or don’t care about. If the economy worsens and when their political sensors become alarmed, they’ll up the dose, and goodness knows just how far this vicious cycle will take us.

This article is from last Wednesday’s International Herald Tribune it tells an incredible story of one area in Tennessee that has received stimulus money.

"The cash that salvaged a county," says the headline.
“Perry County, southwest of Nashville, must be one of those places you don't want to stop when you're driving across the country. With 25% unemployment and no significant industry, it sounds dreadful - at least from an economic point of view. It might be a nice place to live - if you don't have to work for a living.”

So the local government figured the county needed a little stimulus. “They managed to lay their hands on cash being passed out by the feds.” It doesn't seem to bother anyone that the money belongs to someone else. Nor does the fact that it is now being frittered away in a bunch of make-work projects that nobody wanted to pay for even when they had some money. Nor that the stimulus-assisted businesses of Perry County now have an unfair advantage over their honest competitors in other parts of the state.

The local Armstrong Pie Company, for example, used taxpayers' money to expand: "New workers [hired with stimulus money] have helped the company triple its pie production and expand its reach through central Tennessee."

A few important questions to be answered:
•    What happened to the pie companies that lost market share to Armstrong?
•    How is the economy any better off by stimulating one pie company to make more pies at the expense of other pie companies?
•    Even if total pie consumption goes up by a larger pie! Where's the benefit?

The whole thing smells a scam!

Watch the Wall Street Journal’s video: “The Stimulus Scam”