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This piece comes from the comments to Krugman's blog (not Krugman himself), I thought it was a hilarious take on the only stimulus that's likely to have a chance of passing Congress.
I suggest that the nation pursue the only stimulus program which it may be possible to adopt in the current environment. I propose the immediate adoption of The Affordable Prayer Act of 2011.
Under my plan, the government would immediately hire three million unemployed Americans to pray for economic recovery. These new hires would be paid $9 per hour in return for which they would be required to show up at a local place of worship—for First Amendment reasons secular settings for nonreligious meditation would be provided for those not religiously inclined—to spend 40 hours per week praying that the economy recovers. The beauty of this approach is that it should prove appealing to the Bachmann/Perry followers who think more religion is the answer to our troubles, for when the economy benefits from the purchasing power deployed by all the new workers they will be able to attribute it to divine intervention. At the same time, those who are followers of Keynes and perhaps of a more secular bent will be able to attribute the recovery to the government’s having finally adopted an all-out Keynesian stimulus program. The plan would be fully paid for in its initial stages by a surtax on millionaires like me, who would know that the government had assisted us in attaining entry into heaven by following the teaching of Jesus that this worthy goal can only be assured by our selling our property and giving the proceeds to the poor. In its later stages the cost of the program would be offset by the new taxes paid by these previously unemployed citizens and by the unemployment insurance and related safety net costs they will no longer have to impose on the nation.
So the Bachmann/Perry people win, the Keynesians win, and the unemployed win. What’s not to like?
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