Assignment #3 TSewell

The article “Trade-Offs in the Stimulus Package” was written by Madison Powers, a guest columnist for the Congressional Quarterly website. Mr. Powers has a PhD in Philosophy from Oxford and a very impressive resume and seems to have a very impartial outlook. The article was written for Unites States citizens to express that there are two considerations in the stimulus: the efficiency / equity debate and the balance between infrastructure and other activities to stimulate economic growth. His main point is that instead of trying to make a name for ourselves with one grand gesture to stimulate economic growth, we should be making many small gestures that will help us survive. He cites that the figures of return on grand gestures are not much higher than many small ones and that some small projects will have far greater rewards. The implications of using this advice would be that more people will be able to survive this economic downturn.