I've developed a new term for stimulus over the past few months. I came by the term honestly, sitting in a two hour stimulus jam on the 401. I was wondering, what's stimulating about making all these people late? I began to wonder, how much productivity is being lost in the name of stimulus, and is it more than the stimulus provided?
And then, I corrected myself: you have to buy into the economic porn of Keynesian stimulus first.
What is economic porn? It's the belief that robbing Peter to pay Paul somehow stimulates Mary. This is in contrast to the economics of porn, in which Peter pays to watch Paul stimulate Mary. They are both frankly wasteful, of time, money &tc. But at least the economics of porn is a voluntary waste of time, money &tc. The Keynesian porn involves confiscation, then stimulation.
One more thing the two have in common: in each, someone is usually getting screwed.
