Stimulus should be big and fast

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Economists seem to agree that a second round of economic stimulus should be big and it should come soon, real soon, before the nation's financial outlook darkens even more.In a welcome sign of how his administration might be run, President-elect Barack Obama has acted decisively on two fronts. He named respected veterans to the key posts of treasury secretary, top economic adviser and director of the White House budget office. Wall Street rewarded him with a 500-point spike in the stock market.And over the weekend Obama and his aides disclosed the broad outlines of a stimulus package. It would be much larger than the $175 billion he proposed during the campaign, perhaps around $500 billion, although some are saying it should be $700 billion.The core of the program is an ambitious plan to create or save 2.5 million jobs over the next two years. He would give up his plan to repeal tax cuts for the wealthiest and, instead, let them expire as scheduled in 2011. The program would include public-works spending, tax breaks for job creation, perhaps direct aid to the states and increased access to food stamps.This would be on top of the Bush administration's own efforts: An indication by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson that he would soon tap the second half of the $700 billion bailout fund for the financial industry and a $20 billion pledge to shore up tottering Citigroup. In regard to Citigroup, Treasury is resurrecting a plan it first proposed and then shelved -- buying up or guaranteeing so-called toxic assets, in Citigroup's case as much as $306 billion worth.Congressional Democrats say they will pass the stimulus bill "during the first couple of weeks of January" -- the lawmakers return to town Jan. 6 -- and Obama says he wants it on his desk soon after taking office. Why wait?Obama is now committed to preserving President Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy until their scheduled expiration date and making his middle-class cuts permanent, and he says he will honor the Bush administration's commitments to the financial markets. In return, Bush could sign an expedited stimulus bill before leaving office.It doesn't matter whose name is on the bill, just as long as it gets done. Delay will only make matters worse.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)