THE BIG QUESTION for Feb. 17: The Stimulus

The Big Question is a feature where influential lawmakers, pundits and interest group leaders give their answers to a question that’s driving discussion in news circles around the country.

Some responses are gathered via e-mail, while others are gathered in person via tape recorder.

Today’s Big Question is:

What’s the key thing to understand about the stimulus, and will it succeed?

See responses below from Dick Morris, Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Rep. Michele Bachmann, Rep. Lacy Clay, Bertha Lewis, Grover Norquist, William Redpath, Dean Baker and Dr. Larry J. Sabato.

See the last Big Question here.

Dick Morris, columnist and former adviser to Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and President Bill Clinton, said:

The stimulus package President Obama is signing on Tuesday in Denver is a Trojan Horse. Labeled a bill to help the economy, it is really just an amalgam of the Democratic Party’s spending priorities over the past thirty years with some extra pork barrel items thrown in for seasoning. It will not — it cannot — have an appreciable impact… Read the full response

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said:

There is no evidence anywhere in the world over the last 30 years that government-centered, bureaucratic stimulus packages that increase the power of politicians lead to economic growth and jobs. It is the wrong model built on the wrong principles. It will fail.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said:

The one and only criterion that should have been used to determine what went into this bill should have been: Will it stimulate the economy? Instead, this “stimulus” is more about advancing political agendas than it is about stimulating the economy… Read the full response

Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) said:

President Obama called on the Congress to take swift and bold action to meet this economic emergency. I’m very proud that we have delivered the most significant jobs bill in American history. This legislation will help us create and protect 3 – 4 million American jobs. At least… Read the full response

Bertha Lewis, chief organizer of ACORN, said:

The strength of President Obama’s economic recovery package is its judicious mix of programs that create and retain jobs – jobs that are desperately needed in communities from coast to coast. For immediate relief, the Obama program gets money into the hands of people who are most likely to get it back into the economy immediately through programs like unemployment… Read the full response

Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, said:

The “stimulus” will not create any net new jobs or increase national income or wealth. The “Stimulus” simply takes money from the real economy through taxes and increased debt and spends it in the politically controlled economy — government contracts, government employment, government grants to other governments. If Obama/Reid/Pelosi take… Read the full response

William Redpath, national committee chairman of the Libertarian Party said:

I hope sustained economic growth returns as soon as possible. But, I fear and think that this stimulus plan won’t succeed. And my opinion is based, in part, on a National Bureau of Economic Research paper written by Christina Romer… Read the full response

Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, said:

The most important thing to understand is that, by almost everyone’s calculation, this package is simply too small to fill the huge gap created by the collapse of the housing bubble. Adding together the lost demand from housing construction, non-residential construction, and consumption… Read the full response

Dr. Larry J. Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said:

To understand the stimulus, you need know one thing above all. The $787 billion will play out in the economy over a three-year span. The size of the three-year American gross domestic product will be approximately $40 trillion. So a stimulus package that is less than one-fiftieth the size of the three-year GDP is attempting… Read the full response