Stimulate This

Fresh from the Washington Post comes the news that, guess what, the so-called “Stimulus Package” will not work:

Less than half the money dedicated to highways, school construction and other infrastructure projects in a massive economic stimulus package unveiled by House Democrats is likely to be spent within the next two years, according to congressional budget analysts, meaning most of the spending would come too late to lift the nation out of recession.

The story does say that the aspects of the pending legislation … $275 billion in tax cuts and nearly $200 billion for jobless benefits, health care for the poor and other entitlement programs … will be as “immediate” as any government program will be.

None of this gets to the root of the problem, a credit crisis that has stymied business and scared consumers. Banks, facing an immediate write down of any new loans they write because of accounting rules, are still hesitant to lend. Until that problem can be solved, the credit crisis will continue. Whether or not we spend billions in 2012 on monuments to our legislators (er, I mean “infrastructure”).