AT 9.8 PERCENT, the unemployment rate is higher than it has been since it hit 10.1 percent in June 1983. Since the recession began 21 months ago, the economy has shed nearly 7 million jobs. Whole industries -- cars, housing, finance -- have been devastated and may never recover fully.
Nevertheless, White House economists reported in September that "employment is estimated to be between 600,000 and 1.1 million higher than it would otherwise have been"
It does not necessarily follow, however, that the economy needs more stimulus now. Government has managed to blunt the recession, but at a cost -- a higher national debt burden, which future Americans must pay off by working harder and saving more than they otherwise would have. The real question is whether the benefits of pumping even more government fuel into America's engine outweigh the risks.
We see several reasons to doubt it. The first is the sheer immensity of stimulus policies already in place.
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It's short so RTWT -- and wrong in places of course. But maybe the useful idiots are in danger of slipping out of their coma for a minute or two. At least this morning they can remember that history didn't start yesterday.
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