The Stimulus Debate

Unemployment into double digits. Family incomes dropping. A “generation” of American promise and potential, he warns, at risk.

OK, we’re scared. So what’s in the package?

This hour, On Point: The shape and size and politics of Obama’s super-stimulus package. And the super-sized question, Will it work?

You can join the conversation. The challenge looks huge. So do the deficits. Do we have a choice here? Does the federal government have to spend big-time, right now, to save the economy? And spend on what?Guests:

From Washington, we're joined by Greg Ip, U.S. economics editor at The Economist.

Also joining us from Washington is Christian Weller, economist and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a think tank with close ties to the incoming Obama administration. He’s also a professor of public policy at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

And from Palo Alto, California, is John Taylor, professor of economics at Stanford University and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. He was Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005 and served on the President’s Council of Economic Advisors during the Ford and George H.W. Bush administrations. He was an economic advisor to John McCain during the presidential campaign.

More links:

Time's Mark Halperin has excerpts from the prepared text of Obama's speech.  Politico and The Wall Street Journal preview the speech.