One of my biggest problems with the "stimulus" plan is that Obama totally abdicated leadership on this and basically gave it Pelosi and Reid as a homework project. The result, to nobody's surprise, was a pork-filled monstrosity with little immediate impact. The "shovel-ready" jobs that Obama touted were nowhere to be found. The whole thing was a farce, just like FDR's public works measures (he was bailed out by the economic boom of WWII). A more measured approach (maybe $250 billion?), with a helluva lot more oversight as to how the money was going to be spent, would have been advisable. Instead, local governments were basically told that the bank was open and came up with all kinds of fraudulents programs that were going to "save jobs".
I wasn't in favor of the bank bailouts on Wall Street and the GM bailout shouldn't have happened either. We have seen how quickly Wall Street profits have bounced back, just like they always do after big market events. Like them or not, they always find ways to make money. The GM "pre-packaged" bankruptcy was such a mockery of the rule of law, it makes me sick to this day. GM bondholders were screwed over and the unions were made whole or close to it. How do you justify the disparity in the deals that were offered to each of those groups based on bankruptcy law??? Rather than bailing all of these companies out at taxpayers' expense, I would have proposed a 1-year tax amnesty on any corporate profits held overseas that are brought back and reinvested in manufacturing plants, so that the jobs we have been outsourcing to the rest of the world over the last 20 years could be brought back home. Otherwise, that capital is going to stay abroad and be reinvested abroad and we are left to cheer the 40,000 fast food jobs created by McDonalds.
QE I and II are just lipstick on a pig. You would think we might have learned something from Japan's lost decade. But we are making the same mistakes, cranking the printing presses at the Fed wide open. Instead we have created a mountain of new debt and aren't any better off for it.
So yes, I would have taken a somewhat more restrained approach and used tax policy to bring back the billions that companies have left overseas. The government has never been an effective (sustainable) job creator and never will be.
84 and I have similar views on this so I will add a couple more things (not to speak for him, but from the general perspective that Obama was woefully unqualified for his task and has done nothing but screw up the economy).
1. Assuming the Stimulus Package was going to be passed anyway, I would have used funds to forgive/pay-off federally-subsidized student loans. If we're going to give money away, give it to the ones who have made the correct choices, while also giving some of them the financial flexibility to perhaps leave a mundane paycheck job to pursue a business idea. Plus, it increases discretionary spending across the country.
2. Eliminated the TARP incentives for banks to push foreclosures, and instead incentivize mortgage reductions. Again, benefit those who make the right choices by trying to pay off their debts, not pay banks more for foreclosing and writing off the foreclosures as bad debt just to increase their reimbursement ratios.
3. Prohibited banks from immediately arbitrarily freezing and calling commercial lines of credit that were otherwise in good standing. This resulted in more lost jobs than perhaps anything other than the construction slowdown, yet it is never mentioned.
4. Let Chrysler die its natural death.
5. Not passed the Healthcare Act. In addition not addressing any elements of healthcare costs, businesses (justly or not) are making long-term hiring decisions based on anticipated increased requirements. So not only is the Act limp-dicked on controlling any costs, but it discourages increased hiring. Brilliant.
6. Cut the red tape bullshit on new nuclear plants and let power companies get some off the ground to both create jobs and decrease our energy dependency.
7. Push hard for the Fair Tax Act or something similar. I realize this is the least likely to occur and the debate rages as to its impact across income levels, but if the objective is an immediate explosion of domestic working-class jobs, then it is the perfect solution.
This is just a quick list off the top of my head, but there are many things that he could have done that would have made more economic sense than what was done, at a much lower cost to taxpayers.
