If unemployment benefits help to stimulate the economy, why won't the Deems use unspent "stimulus" money to finance those extensions? Why does it have to increase the deficit?


Sitting down Hankster?

I agree.

But here's the thing. When Obama took over we were losing jobs at a truly scary pace. I don't know-no one knows - what would have happened if we hadn't done the bailouts and passed the stimulus. (Remember at the time of the bailouts the Rs were fully on board. In fact, Bush asked for no strings on his massive plan.) We might have had a truly awful outcome, possibly even worse than the great depression, had we done nothing.
The scary thing is we may just get to see what happens when we stop the stimulus money. I can’t see things getting better, but time will tell. I think we are at a truly worrisome crossroads. If we do nothing I expect a second perhaps even worse recession. If we pour money on it we will be pouring gasoline on the conflagration that is our national debt. What do you think we should do?