There is a great deal of talk about why the U.S. stimulus has not worked. Obama’s mistake was being too cautious in fearful times, writes columnist Martin Wolf in yesterday’s Financial Times. Wolf, who wanted a much bigger stimulus, glosses over an observation he made on February 4, 2009: “Instead of an overwhelming fiscal stimulus, what is emerging is too small, too wasteful and too ill-focused.”

It is the element of waste and spending without focus that especially annoyed the American public, long before there was any reason to think that the stimulus would not work. For Congress to have a blank check in the amount of almost $800 billion was leadership naivety at best, and malpractice at worst. In reality, the wasteful and thoughtless spending had to dilute the impact of the billions poured into the economy. Continue reading…