There were tax rebates in early 2008, then the $700 billion bailout, then a $787 billion “stimulus,” and then a few hundred billion here and there for home owner bailouts and TARP 2, right?
I’m trying to get a list of all of these bailouts, stimuli, rebates, etc. to figure out the total amount of cash the federal government has tried to put into the economy via fiscal stimulus.
I’m asking just because recently I’ve been thinking about somewhat politically feasible, pseudolibertarian alternatives. Essentially, I’ve been playing mind games with myself, asking what would I have done with a pretty statist Congress and media, had I been President.
I’m thinking something along the lines of: instead of rebates, I would’ve eliminated the capital gains tax, instead of a bailout of the financial system, I would’ve eliminated all business taxes and the business-side of payroll taxes, instead of the “stimulus,” TARP 2, and homeowner bailouts, I would’ve begun reducing income and payroll taxes across the board. Also, I would’ve attempted to order the Fed to stop lending to and bailing out banks, and instead I would have ordered them to buy T-bills directly from the Treasury and immediately monetize that debt. That would keep the money supply relatively steady (which would appease all those monetarists) while preventing any money from hitting the financial markets and causing another bubble (since the new money would go directly to the government instead of going through a financial intermediary). Lastly, I would have attempted to deregulate.
All of that could have been achieved at the same or lower cost but with better economic results.
