If You Are Reading The Stimulus Bill
Some online news stories encourage readers to read the so-called economic stimulus bill, passed by Congress yesterday. As the Wall Street Journal points out, the final bill is "anything but transparent" and totals 1,073 pages, Consequently, you may need some advice before starting out.
George Mason University economics professor Walter Williams included the following advice, which is from his January 28, 2009 Townhall.com column:
"In stimulus package language, if Congress taxes to hand out money, one person is stimulated at the expense of another, who pays the tax, who is unstimulated. A visual representation of the stimulus package is: Imagine you see a person at work taking buckets of water from the deep end of a swimming pool and dumping them into the shallow end in an attempt to make it deeper. You would deem him stupid. That scenario is equivalent to what Congress and the new president proposes for the economy."
-- Walter E. Williams