Postscript: The President's One Percent Solution
by Dana Chasin, 1/18/2008
Bush just finished speaking about a White House stimulus plan in very general terms, the vagueness perhaps reflecting deference to House Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's request to hold off on specifics and refrain from "unilaterally detailing his own approach" until a bipartisan plan can be worked out.
There was one surprise in the President's comments, however. "This growth package must be big enough to make a difference in an economy as large and dynamic as ours, which means it should be about 1% of GDP," which translates into a package of up to $150 billion -- significantly higher than the consensus amounts discussed in Congress and among think tanks and economists.
