This article, "Trade-offs in the Stimulus Package", was written by Madison Powers for the website Congressional Quarterly Today Online News. Mr. Powers wrote this article in an attempt to explain the inevitable trade-offs that were going to occur in the debate and formation of this bill. He wrote this to inform those people that are trying to figure out what this stimulus package is all about.
Mr. Powers is addressing two different trade-offs that he considers the most important, the balance between equity and efficiency and the balance between building infrastructure and smaller projects that will stimulate the economy. His basic argument in the equity-efficiency trade-off is that in a time when the economy as a whole is spiraling downward we need to put the equity on the back burner and get the most return on the government money as possible. He says that yes it would be nice to have it fairly doled out, but in this economic climate getting the most out of our money should take top priority. His view on the infrastructure-smaller projects trade-off clearly states that in order to fix all the different problems that we are having we need to fund the smaller projects and more of them as opposed to the large projects that we would only be able to do a few of. What he is trying to get across is that if we take the money and invest it in all the small parts of the economy that are failing, we will see a more balanced and long-lasting effect on the economy as a whole. Mr. Powers is hitting on the fact that just putting a big patch on a few holes isn't going to stop the leak, but putting a small patch on all the small holes will fix the problem and prevent it from bursting back open if the economy gets rough again.
David Duryee
