No silver bullet

After the bill was approved by the Senate, lawmakers will have to resolve differences between the Senate bill and a US$819 billion version of the legislation approved last week by the House.

Once a final bill is crafted and passed by both chambers, the measure would be sent to Obama to sign into law. Obama has set a February 16 deadline for the package.

Lobbyists and lawmakers were gearing up for a fight this week over remaining differences. That could make it difficult for House and Senate negotiators to meet Obama's revised goal of having a measure in place for his signature.

Meanwhile, Republicans were still skeptical of the stimulus package, claiming it is not a stimulus one but a spending plan, which will waste a lot of taxpayer's money.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell complained the package was a "poorly crafted bill," noting: "I think you could get the job about half of that, which would still be very robust stimulus package by historical standard."

Despite a growing sense of urgency, many economists across the political spectrum continue to criticize the congressional stimulus plans.

Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist at Columbia University and former chief economist at the World Bank, said that the stimulus package was "probably too little, especially given that it is badly designed (and) we haven't yet fixed the mortgage problem so the financial sector is likely to continue bleeding."

While plans for infrastructure spending were flawed, it was "unlikely to be wasted as badly as the private financial market has wasted resources in last five years," said Stiglitz.

Investors appeared to reject the government's latest efforts. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged nearly 400 points.

Obama also knew the challenges. He told reporters at Monday's press conference that his administration, which he said inherited a deficit of over US$1 trillion and "the most profound economic emergency since the Great Depression," should pay much attention to greater deficits.

"Those are deficits that could turn a crisis into a catastrophe, and I refuse to let that happen," said Obama.

The president admitted that he did not know whether the government might need more than the remaining US$350 billion of bailout funds to restore the ailing US financial system.

"We don't know yet whether we're going to need additional money or how much additional money we'll need until we see how successful we are at restoring a level of confidence in the marketplace," Obama said.

"Given the magnitude and the difficulties of the problem we're facing, there are no silver bullets and there are no easy answers," said the president.

(Xinhua News Agency February 11, 2009)