The Tax Policy Center has some good resources for evaluating the stimulus bill. The linked "report card" on the tax provisions was especially useful as I try to help some reporters discover what is in the bill. As I was preparing my thoughts on the bill this morning, here are some of the money quotes that came to mind...
There isn't much in the bill in terms of special provision for small business. To be sure, there are some, but a 1071 page, $787 billion Act from Congress that places government at the center of the economic recovery will, by definition, displace other things. There are opportunity costs, and the biggest worry has to be that entrepreneurship is hobbled by a great role for the central government in running the economy.
The biggest benefit of this or any stimulus package is the objective of sustaining aggregate demand. Falling demand is what will hurt small businesses more than anything, so sustaining demand is the aim of Obama's economists.
A small business bill would be a small bill, not 1071 pages.
The biggest question: who pays? Every billion in government spending costs the average person about $3.30 in deferred taxes, not counting interest (averaging across 300 million in the population, including children and nursing home residents). So a $787 billion dollar bill will cost each American $2358. For a family of six with one income-earner, that's $14,000. Would I buy this stimulus package if it were being sold at Sears for $14,000?
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