Quote:As a Keynesian, the stimulus was exactly the right thing to do and the fact that the economy isn't in shambles right now proves it. The stimulus should have been larger in terms of investment in infrastructure and would have helped workers faster and at higher levels.


As a libertarian, a agree that the bank bailouts should not have happened. As an American/Nationalist the auto bailouts were the right move.


At the end of the day, you're right that we're not whole yet. But you can't deny we are on the right track.

 

never mind a basic contradiction in libertarianism and keynsian economics, the historical average of American recoveries from recession is roughly around 3% annual GDP growth.  Obama is going to fall well short of that.  He is going to be the first president in history never to achieve 3% economic growth.  And this is with effectively 0% interest rates, the FHA handing out 7500 dollars to first time home buyers, trillions upon trillions of QE money being forced into the economy by the fed, etc. 

 

Not to mention the fact, that the housing bubble was caused by Fannie Mae (government entity to systemically intervene in the housing market divorced form market forces) the CRA and the Clinton Treasury/justice department leaning on banks to make speculative loans. 

 

Your basic assertion doesn't acknowledge the role of interventionism in the crash and doesn't acknowledge the patent objective failure of subsequent interventionism to provide meaningful economic growth!  (even failing in its own stated goal of keeping unemployment below 8% at the time of its passage.)  We are in the middle of the largest government expansion since the New deal, and just like the new Deal all the thousand page bills through congress to reimburse political allies with tax payer dollars couldn't put the economy back together again. 

 

When you compare this recovery, with the Reagan recovery during the 80's and consider the fact that people had to pay 19% in some cases to buy a home with actual down payments etc. there is no comparison. 

 

In any objective measure, the last 8 years has DISPROVEN keynsianism, interventionism, and to a certain degree monetarism as legitimate means to provide sustained economic growth in the economy. 

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