February 13, 2009 11:53AM 

# Can Anyone Find a Cure? 

By [Chris Edwards](https://www.cato.org/people/chris-edwards) 

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Stimulus plan supporters are using words such as “jumpstart” and “shovel-ready” to create an aura of rapid and productive action from their $787 billion bill heading for passage in Congress.

The [CBO just released some details of the plan](http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/99xx/doc9989/hr1conference.pdf), which includes $575 billion in new spending and $212 billion in (mainly silly) tax cuts. Even if you believe in Keynesian jumpstart theory, a full 41% of the spending ($236 billion) will not occur until 2011 and after. Thus, even from a Keynesian perspective, $236 billion ought to be cut out of the package because it won’t be spent on “shovel-ready” projects.

And by the way, even according to the CBO’s Keynesian-style model, the [stimulus package will produce a negative effect on GDP in 2014 and all subsequent years](http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/99xx/doc9987/Gregg_Year-by-Year_Stimulus.pdf).

In the end, if didn’t really matter what even Congress’s own economists said — today’s politicians simply love to spend money and will jump on any excuse to do so. It is an obsessive-compulsive disorder for which we have yet to find a cure.

##### Related Tags 

[Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) 

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