White House economic adviser Christina Romer said yesterday that the first stimulus package has been a success.
“In other words, after we administered the medicine, an economy that was in free fall has stabilized substantially, and now looks as though it could begin to recover in the second half of the year,” Romer told The Economic Club.
But if the economy doesn’t continue to improve, Romer thinks we should pass a second stimulus that will put the country further in debt.
“That said, if we come to the end of the year, if we’re not seeing the kinds of results that we anticipate … we’d start thinking about other things that need to be done.”
And apparently Romer did not learn from the mistakes of Geithner and Summers last Sunday. She would not say the Administration won’t raise taxes on the middle class.
“You know the president has made it very clear through the campaign that middle-class families have really gotten a bum deal, not just in this recession but probably for at least the last 10 years, and that’s why he does not want to do anything that burdens middle-class families,” Romer said. “And obviously no one is talking about raising taxes.”