Why We All Want A Big Wedding

Image by somaholiday via Flickr

Or the Truth About the Economic Stimulus Plan

With the news coming out that the stimulus package was signed into law today, I thought I would try to explain the reasoning behind the bill in terms that most of us can understand; a wedding. With my life becoming almost 100% about weddings these days, I started to notice that the same logic used to plan a wedding reception is more or less the same logic the government is using to explain their decision to stimulate the economy. What do I mean by that? Let me explain.

The wedding ceremony is a very personal and spiritual moment, so I’ll exclude this for the sake of not offending anyone. The wedding reception on the other hand essentially boils down to a large amount of money spent by the bride and groom’s parents to bring a very large group of people together in order to drink stimulate the young couple’s modest existence through the giving of gifts. If money is spent unwisely or if the wrong date is selected, then despite the best efforts of everyone involved, there is a good chance that the cost of the event will outweigh the amount given to the young couple as the financial burden assumed by the parents failed to translate into an adequate number of guests. The newlyweds will then be forced to spend money on the items they think they need (b/c let’s be honest, no one needs a $100 tea kettle) to get started. Spend too little and you’ll find yourself in a very similar predicament.

The stimulus bill on the other hand is a plan by the government (the parents) to spend a very large sum of money on a smorgasbord of pet projects (infrastructure spending, tax cuts, state government bailouts, green energy initiatives… aka the guest list) in order to benefit the economy (the newlywed couple) during a time of reduced productivity. If money is spent unwisely or if it is not spent quickly enough, then despite the best efforts of those in Washington, the bill will fail to translate into adequate GDP growth (the wedding presents) and the government will be forced to raise taxes or do more harm to the dollar by borrowing more from China to make up for the original cost of the bill. If the bill that is too small it will fail to address any of the problems brought about by the recession, and the end result will be very similar (i.e. bad).

Maybe the government should take a page out of the wedding planning book and start a registry for what it really needs/wants. Then contractors could openly bid for the right to assume the work; theknot.com for government expenditures if you will. I’ll call it www.taxmenot.gov.

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• Betsy McCaughey, Rush Limbaugh, and Fox News are lying about the stimulus bill by stating that it creates a government beuracracy to monitor your healthcare. Turns out Bush created it.

• The National Review makes the case for no stimulus by adopting the Treasury View.

• Econospeak refutes this claim and is unsure why anyone would listen to the National Review.

• Brad Delong recently wrote a paper about this subject. Chapter 1, "The Fallacy of the Treasury View."

• Right Wing News declares that the Stimulus Bill qualifies Obama for the worst president in US history award.

• Conservative Jim Manzi explains that conservatives need to be intellectually honest.

• Swamp Politics explains who will benefit from the Stimulus bill.

• The CBO estimates that doing nothing will lead to a $2.7 Trillion GDP gap by 2011.

• If unemployment reaches 11%, 12.4 million more people will be living in poverty.

• Bruce Bartlett argues that the New Deal though deeply flawed, didn't work because the government didn't spend enough.

• Dan Greenhaus is conflicted.