and now for something different - stimulus package and the politics of being without a microwave and dvd

I realise that a lot of this blog is about the emotional stuff that I seem to go through... I find it very strange to see a lot of what I have felt on the interwebs... especially when this is not me in real life...

there's been a couple of non-emotional things that have been floating around in my head the last couple of days, and they largely centre around the issue of the macroeconomy internationally and nationally (I hate the term "global credit crunch")...

there's been a lot of discussion around the $42 billion dollar stimulus plan that has been announced by the Rudd Labor Government... especially from the econocrati about if it will be effective...

in discussing this further, I first need to make one note about what I think of the econocrati more generally and it is embodied by the saying/joke - "if you brought the world's economists together to find a solution they agreed on, the room would split into 1.5 times the number of economists"...

the short answer is, no-one really knows how effective any economic policy will be - there are simply too many variables, and the data used to make future predictions are based on the past at a particular time, location and specific set of circumstances.

Given the the current global (for the most part) and Australia's national economy, is reliant on consumerism to enable growth, it would seem a one off payment and increasing government spending on public infrastructure is one way to boost people's capacity to consume (through giving the people cash and/or a job).

So for the time being, I wouldn't mind receiving $950... it is definately needed, because I would like to buy a microwave and a dvd player given that I no longer have either.