Bloomberg Hits the Road
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on September 13th, 2010 4:42 am by HL
Bloomberg Hits the Road
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg “is at work expanding his national profile, delivering a string of high-profile candidate endorsements around the country and using his outsized megaphone to become a spokesman for swaths of disgruntled elites who were once part of President Obama’s base,” Politico reports.
“What he wants isn’t entirely clear. The mayor, armed with a $15 billion fortune, publicly denies in the most emphatic terms — death, incapacitation — any interest in cutting short his third term to run for higher office.”
“But his schedule and growing portfolio suggests he’s looking for a national voice or something more, one that echoes well beyond the city’s five boroughs, and he is attracting attention from elites who have become disillusioned with the White House.”
The Politics of Economic Stimulus
James Surowiecki notes the economic stimulus package has become a political albatross:
“Paradoxically, the very things that made the stimulus more effective economically may have made it less popular politically. For instance, because research has shown that lump-sum tax refunds get hoarded rather than spent, the government decided not to give individuals their tax cuts all at once, instead refunding a little on each paycheck. The tactic was successful at increasing consumer demand, but it had a big political cost: many voters never noticed that they were getting a tax cut. Similarly, a key part of the stimulus was the billions of dollars that went to state governments. This was crucial in helping the states avoid layoffs and spending cuts, but politically it didn’t get much notice, because it was the dog that didn’t bark — saving jobs just isn’t as conspicuous as creating them. Extending unemployment benefits was also an excellent use of stimulus funds, since that money tends to get spent immediately. But unless you were unemployed this wasn’t something you’d pay attention to.”
“Bizarre as it may seem, a less well-designed stimulus might have been more popular, and that would have made it easier for Obama to sell the electorate on his new stimulus proposals.”
