Bruce Bartlett On The Stimulus Package

Frum Forum has asked a group of free market economists to assess the stimulus ideas working their way through Congress. Which should Republicans favor? Which could we live with? Which should be opposed absolutely?

We will be posting replies as they come in.

Today we hear from Bruce Bartlett, Gregory Mankiw and Eric Rasmusen - affiliations listed at the end of each author's posting.

I believe that the current economic downturn is a crisis situationÑsecond only to the Great Depression. I believe we should err on the side of doing too much rather than too little. Yes, the stimulus package is poorly designed, but we don’t have time to design a better one. Time is of the essence. The longer it continues, the harder downward economic momentum is to stop.

Bruce Bartlett is a former Treasury Department economist.