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But it sure is making Democratic politicians happy. One unnamed Democratic leader quoted by the Washington Post praised it as "the most progressive economic package we have seen in years."

Even the rebates, touted by Bush as a way to get money back into the hands of taxpayers, are unlikely to do much good. Most economists prefer using monetary policy rather than fiscal policy to help calm economic hiccups and view long-term economic fundamentals as much more important than short-term tinkering.

Rebates, which tend to appear too late to be effective, have a long history of fizzling. A recent study by a team of Harvard economists suggests that when a tax rebate is framed as a "rebate" rather than a "bonus" -- and that's what we're calling it -- people are far less likely to spend the money.

Then there's the nitpicky moral objection. Looking at the House bill, it appears likely that some monies will go to people who don't even pay income taxes. That's not a rebate; it's welfare.

THE CURRENT PLAN is to fund the stimulus, basically, by taking out a loan which will have to be repaid with interest. Just as the sticker price on your car isn't really the price you're paying when you pay back the loan, the already astronomical $150 billion price tag is far short of the full amount.

Worse, the actions taken to smooth over short-term bumps in the economic road could be directly at odds with long-term growth. As Orzsag noted in his testimony, "higher deficits...tend to slow economic growth in the long term if they are allowed to persist."

But what's long term economic growth to a politician looking for short-term political gain? Even though there are some proposals, like the Republican Study Committee's aptly named Economic Growth Act, which take fueling economic expansion seriously, Congress seems determined to ignore them in favor of ineffective policies and short-sighted politics. But at least they can say they did it together.

topics:
Taxes, Nancy Pelosi