Comments on: Life Support for Government http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2009/11/life-support-for-government.html Dispatches from a Small Business Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:53:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: David Zetland http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2009/11/life-support-for-government.html/comment-page-1#comment-29559 David Zetland Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:21:27 +0000 http://www.coyoteblog.com/?p=9777#comment-29559 Totally. Totally.

]]> By: Lenny http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2009/11/life-support-for-government.html/comment-page-1#comment-29541 Lenny Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:37:20 +0000 http://www.coyoteblog.com/?p=9777#comment-29541 This whole jobs "saved or created" game would be very entertaining if I didn't have to remember how much of my future earnings is being wasted in the process. It occured to me, however, that there is one small silver lining. I was reading through the whitehouse.gov blog where the administration is defending itself when I came across this statement - "...transparency is going to be messy – but it is better than the alternative." Their point was that all this reporting is going to be messy but in the end we'll all see how wonderful the stimulus has been. I had to stop and acknowledge that as far as I can remember, no previous adminstration has ever published this kind of raw feedback so freely but rather than helping us see how wonderful the stimulus is, this quick turnaround in publishing the reports is giving us all a good look at what the emperor's new clothes are really made of. This whole jobs “saved or created” game would be very entertaining if I didn’t have to remember how much of my future earnings is being wasted in the process. It occured to me, however, that there is one small silver lining.

I was reading through the whitehouse.gov blog where the administration is defending itself when I came across this statement – “…transparency is going to be messy – but it is better than the alternative.”

Their point was that all this reporting is going to be messy but in the end we’ll all see how wonderful the stimulus has been. I had to stop and acknowledge that as far as I can remember, no previous adminstration has ever published this kind of raw feedback so freely but rather than helping us see how wonderful the stimulus is, this quick turnaround in publishing the reports is giving us all a good look at what the emperor’s new clothes are really made of.

]]> By: Allen http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2009/11/life-support-for-government.html/comment-page-1#comment-29537 Allen Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:22:58 +0000 http://www.coyoteblog.com/?p=9777#comment-29537 I wouldn't belittle the significance of the flaws in data. The only thing worse than no data is bad data. Of course the buearcrats are blaming transparency for this, that we're just seeing it before they could clean it up. And that's a load of crap. You can't polish a turd. This data has no business getting into the system, so to speak, unless it's known to be correct. Their entire process is flawed and they don't want to admit it. I wouldn’t belittle the significance of the flaws in data. The only thing worse than no data is bad data. Of course the buearcrats are blaming transparency for this, that we’re just seeing it before they could clean it up. And that’s a load of crap. You can’t polish a turd. This data has no business getting into the system, so to speak, unless it’s known to be correct. Their entire process is flawed and they don’t want to admit it.

]]> By: Bill http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2009/11/life-support-for-government.html/comment-page-1#comment-29527 Bill Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:50:10 +0000 http://www.coyoteblog.com/?p=9777#comment-29527 It isn't even the political or ideological problems with the actual spending targets that is most disturbing (although they are plenty disturbing enough!). Simply from the perspective of economic theory, the only justification for a stimulus (which does nothing more than move spending decisions from present or future taxpayers to government officials) is that the multiplier will be greater, so there will be a greater total impact on the economy than would occur if individuals made their own decisions about where to spend their money. Whatever you think about that theory (I think it is pretty bogus, but I have no formal economics training so I'm pretty sure my opinion doesn't count), it surely doesn't apply when the dollars are spent in the least stimulating part of the economy. The multiplier in this case has to be less than 1.0. The stimulus is actually further sucking the life out of the economy. We're in the best of hands. It isn’t even the political or ideological problems with the actual spending targets that is most disturbing (although they are plenty disturbing enough!).

Simply from the perspective of economic theory, the only justification for a stimulus (which does nothing more than move spending decisions from present or future taxpayers to government officials) is that the multiplier will be greater, so there will be a greater total impact on the economy than would occur if individuals made their own decisions about where to spend their money. Whatever you think about that theory (I think it is pretty bogus, but I have no formal economics training so I’m pretty sure my opinion doesn’t count), it surely doesn’t apply when the dollars are spent in the least stimulating part of the economy. The multiplier in this case has to be less than 1.0. The stimulus is actually further sucking the life out of the economy.
We’re in the best of hands.

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