Too loaded down with tax cuts. Needed more spending, but otherwise better than nothing.
^This. Christina Romer's original $1.8 trillion stimulus plan would have been much better. If there was ever a more urgent time to go big and ambitious, it was then. The President had considerable capital and big majorities in Congress at the time. Unfortunately, too many were in positions of importance that didn't value what a robust stimulus would do for the economy.
I adore the idea of massive government projects to improve infrastructure, and I
do think it would have made some impact if we had done high speed rail, built nuclear plants, or a number of other things.
Nevertheless I don't feel like it would have improved the economy that much more. Sure, there are lots and lots of jobs that these large-scale projects would create in the short term. But enough to cut into the devastation much more in the immediate than what was done? I'm not too sure. Again, I would have loved to see these big ideas go forward, but I'm not sure they'd have made a big difference.
