Hilarious! Yet while that provides a good chuckle, many of the concerns addressed in the video are valid. There is little agreement in the economic community that the stimulus will have any positive effect on the economy. There are many who suggest that it will actually do further damage to the economy. Walter Williams, an economist at George Mason University, wrote one of the most thought provoking pieces I have read on the stimulus and the even larger problem of the federal government’s role in all facets of our life.

On the stimulus he wrote:

In 1893, there was a depression; we got out of it without a stimulus package. There was a major recession of 1920-21; though sharp, it quickly reversed itself into what has been call the “Roaring Twenties.” In 1929, there was an economic downturn, most notably featured by the stock market collapse, after which came massive government intervention — you might call it the nation’s first stimulus package. President Hoover and Congress responded to what might have been a two- or three-year sharp downturn with many of the policies President Obama and Congress are urging today. They raised tariffs, propped up wage rates, bailed out farmers, banks and other businesses, and financed state relief efforts. When Roosevelt came to office, he became even more interventionist than Hoover and presided over protracted depression where the economy didn’t fully recover until 1946.

Roosevelt didn’t have an easy time with his agenda; he had to first emasculate the U.S. Supreme Court. Higgs points out that federal courts had respect for the Constitution as late as the 1930s. They issued some 1,600 injunctions to restrain officials from carrying out acts of Congress. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned as unconstitutional the New Deal’s centerpieces such as the National Industrial Recovery Act and the Agricultural Adjustment Act and other parts of Roosevelt’s “stimulus package.” An outraged Roosevelt threatened to pack the Court, and the Court capitulated to where it is today giving Congress virtually unlimited powers to tax, spend and regulate. My question to my fellow Americans is: Do we want a repeat of measures that failed dismally during the 1930s?

There is very little evidence that government intervention in down economy will have any positive effect whatsoever. While there is example after example of where too much government involvement causes economic stagnation or recession. Even the everlasting ideological battle between capitalism and communism or, to a lesser extent, socialism exemplifies this.

In communist and socialist economies there is very little growth and prosperity. Western Europe over the past many years shows that socialist economic policies cause very little growth. While the United States was enjoying consistent economic growth of around 3.5%, France’s economy was stagnant at about .5% growth, which was less than the inflation rate, thus they were digressing. Whereas Eastern Europe and China (a self-proclaimed Communist country) have embraced capitalism and are flourishing. Certainly all of these economies are struggling now, but that does not mean that capitalism is a failed system.

On the contrary, any system based on market fluctuation is going to go through bad times and good times. Markets are self-correcting and that is what it is doing now.We would be wise to be patient allow the market to largely work itself out.

All of that being said, I am not wholly opposed to government aid. I would just rather the government come out and say what it is doing, and that is attempting to help the people through the hard times. Well, I suppose they are saying that, but more so they are saying that this is going to jump-start the economy.

I have no problem with the government helping people out through a tough time; though many in my political party do I do have a problem with the government putting it’s hands where they don’t belong; in control of a significant segment of the economy. Certainly there needs to be regulation, tax, and economic policy, but nationalization, wasteful spending in the name of fixing the economy, and creating trillion of dollars of debt is not and never will be a good idea.