[quote=Eugene][quote]They can always cut taxes and finance the difference with newly printed money, which as Bernanke famously noted, would be akin to dropping money from helicopters.[/quote]

As Mark Zandi (former McCain’s advisor, hardly a socialist) estimated back in 2008, direct spending on infrastructure and aid to state governments to preventing state-level layoffs is about 4 to 5 times more effective per dollar spent than extending Bush tax cuts.[/quote]

That’s got nothing to do with the point I was making, which was in response to your assertion that monetizing Treasuries couldn’t have a discernible effect on consumption. This isn’t a left vs right policy debate.

I was stating the FACT that monetizing Treasuries to finance a tax cut would get money into the hands of consumers (along with the FACT that Bernanke had pointed this out himself as a potential policy option). I didn’t endorse that policy as being a good idea.