Media's Latest Stimulus Push: Spend Now, Tax Later

Media's Latest Stimulus Push: Spend Now, Tax Later: "When New York Times columnist and Nobel Prize-winning liberal economist Paul Krugman insisted back on June 28 the only way to avert a “third depression” was to open up the spigots of government stimulus, many dismissed the plea as Krugman doubling-down on his Keynesian ideology.



However, what Krugman may have done, intentionally or unintentionally, was reframe the debate about how much stimulus is needed and how should it be financed by new taxes.



One of those new taxes that has been publicly proposed by White House economic adviser and former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker was the value-added tax (VAT), which prompted a stern reply from Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who rebuking the idea late in June.



Still, the VAT has managed to remain in the public purview for several months now. But that is just one of the potential new taxes being considered as a fix for future deficits that has gained steam with some of the talking heads in the media.