Economic Stimulus in the U.S. and China

“There is no such thing as shovel-ready projects.” – President Obama. Although some experts believe that President Obama’s stimulus package (i.e., the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) helped stave off a recession, others believe it was mostly wasteful. What many people do not realize is that China too had its own economic stimulus…

Did the Stimulus Hurt the Economy?

Although the stimulus money may have helped the economy in the short run (1-2 years), in the near-term it seems to have exacerbated problems by bloating state government spending and postponing necessary cuts. “As part of the 2009 stimulus package, Washington gave the states $150 billion. The states became dependent on a higher level of…

Anti-depressants and Fiscal Stimulus

Conventional wisdom holds that physicians can use anti-depressants to treat long term depression.  Many patients, however, spend years or even decades taking these drugs.  Is this how the inventors of anti-depressants believe they would be used? Author Robert Whitaker believes not: You find that even with major depression, in the pre-antidepressant era – and this…