comment is free  Economic stimulus on the cheap  For US
senators, decreasing the size of the stimulus package may be
clever politics. But it's not smart economics  The moderates in
the Senate of both parties are very proud of themselves for
having negotiated a slimmed down version of the stimulus
package. They apparently knocked out more than $100bn in
spending, trimming the package to less than $400bn a year.  This
led to a round of self-congratulations at what this crew
considered a major accomplishment. Those of us who were not a
party to the negotiations, and who don't share the peculiar
thought processes of the moderate clique, see the primary
outcome of this effort as having taken one million jobs out of
the stimulus.  The basic logic is very simple. Stimulus creates
jobs by spending money. Those who are not in Congress understand
this. If the government pays someone $30,000, then that person
will be employed. They can be repaving a road, weatherising a
building, teaching our kids, providing healthcare