for the past year i've had these arguments with people who are opposed, not just to the obama stimulus plan, but to the very concept of governmental spending having any stimulative effect. as they tell it, government money can never stimulate the economy because when the government spends money there are all these hidden "costs" that end up choking off private investment. what those hidden costs are and how that choking off works has always been a little fuzzy, but the bottom line is that a lot of people seem to believe that government spending on a particular area always seems to do a lot more economic harm than good.
but if that's the case, how to they explain the bipartisan outcry whenever something like this happens? are the politicians protesting the closure of a military base in their district acting irrationally? shouldn't they be cheering the economic boom times that will come to their district when the base closes, thousands lose their jobs but all those hidden costs and choking off goes away?
