More “Stimulus?”

Despite growing evidence that unprecedented federal interventionism has failed to turn around the American economy, a key advisor to President Barack Obama says that another government “stimulus” is needed.

Laura D’Andrea Tyson, a member of the President’s economic task force, told a conference in Singapore today that the $787 billion economic “stimulus” plan passed in February was too small and that a “second stimulus” should be passed, this one directed specifically at infrastructure.

Frankly, Tyson’s math skills need a little work because by our count this would be the third “stimulus” (former President George W. Bush passed one too, remember?). And correct us if we’re wrong, but wasn’t “infrastructure” supposed to be the target of the last package?

That’s how Obama sold it, anyway.

Also, it’s important to bear in mind that the two “stimulus” packages – one bailing out Wall Street and the other state-level government bureaucracies – together represent less than a quarter of the $13 trillion that government has spent, lent or pledged toward “economic recovery” in the last eighteen months.

Anyway, from Reuters:

The United States should be planning for a possible second round of fiscal stimulus to further prop up the economy after the $787 billion rescue package launched in February, an adviser to President Barack Obama said.

“We should be planning on a contingency basis for a second round of stimulus,” Laura D’Andrea Tyson, a member of the panel advising President Barack Obama on tackling the economic crisis. said on Tuesday.

Addressing a seminar in Singapore, Tyson said she felt the first round of stimulus aimed to prop up the economy had been slightly smaller than she would have liked and that a possible second round should be directed at infrastructure investment.

“The stimulus is performing close to expectations but not in timing,” Tyson said, referring to the slow pace at which the first round of stimulus had been spent on the economy.

Funny … this recommendation comes on the same day that an ominous report was released outlining the potentially crippling impact of Washington’s “debt explosion” on long-term interest rates.

Think anybody in D.C. sees those storm clouds on the horizon?

Of course not.

In fact, Obama himself said today that another stimulus was indeed an option that he wanted to leave “on the table.”