Surviving Capitalism (Not) : The net fiscal expenditure stimulus in the US 2008-2009: Less than what you might think

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Sunday, March 7, 2010

The net fiscal expenditure stimulus in the US 2008-2009: Less than what you might think

from Vox. This academic type article on US expenditure efforts to stimulate the economy supports the intuitive impression that very little NET stimulus has actually happened--hence very little progress in reviving the economy.

The crisis led to significant fiscal stimulus efforts by the US government to offset the downturn. But this column argues that, properly adjusted for the declining fiscal expenditure of the fifty states, the aggregate stimulus was close to zero in 2009. While a net decline was avoided, the stimulus did not raise aggregate expenditure above its predicted mean. This can explain the anemic reaction of the US economy to the alleged “big federal fiscal stimulus”.