Rethinking the Stimulus Plan

I have to confess, i'm a sucker for ideals. Someone paints a grandiose picture of a brighter future, and i'm taken away by it... gullible. I think that's how i feel about a lot of President Obama's hope-filled rhetoric. It doesn't translate into real, workable solutions. I expressed my support of his proposed stimulus plan without taking the time to mull through it, line by line. Frankly, i haven't the time to stay as informed as i'd like to be, with the mountains of seminary reading and writing, plus ministry and family responsibilities.

Anyhow, this Libertarian offers what seems to be a handful of reasonable steps to take in turning around the economy (i'm not keen enough on foreign policy and what all is going down in Afghanistan, so i can't speak to that). Harvard economics prof Robert Borro, in a Feb. 5 Atlantic interview (following up on his Jan. 22 Wall Street Journal article) sharply criticizes Obama's plan, calling it "probably the worst bill that has been put forward since the 1930s."

All i'm hearing—from Republicans, Independents, Libertarians, even several Democrats—is that this stimulus plan has WAY too much "wasteful" (illegitimate, unpurposeful, unimpactful) spending, and increasing debt is no way of getting ourselves out of the mess we're in, which is largely a product of over-borrowing. Sounds right to me.