Cash for Clunkers Success

[Danzig]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32512922...nting_america/


While small in comparison to other stimulus programs, Cash for Clunkers adds to the perception that Obama is simply trying to spend his way out of the economic downturn and let future generations deal with the consequences. The White House is expected to announce next week that the federal deficit will be a record $1.58 trillion for the current 2009 fiscal year, about $262 billion less than predicted earlier but still three times as large as last year.

"It fits into that theme of artificially trying to pump up the economy in the short run but in my view at the expense of long-term growth," said Chris Edwards, an economist with the libertarian Cato Institute. "It increases the government's debt and will probably, like those other temporary programs, produce higher inflation in the future."