McHeadscratcher

Megan McArdle with another headscratcher today.

I'm watching Obama claim that it is "largely thanks to the Recovery Act" that the recession didn't become a depression.  I supported the stimulus, and still do.  But this claim is ludicrous.

And then she goes on to say that Bush's TARP really saved us, not the stimulus.  That's arguable.  The point is, if you're supporting the stimulus, and the stimulus didn't do anything in your opinion...why are you supporting it?

Meanwhile, if the banks are spewing out record profits and paying back TARP money to get off the hook with Treasury, did TARP really accomplish anything?

If anything, the current situation seems to strongly suggest we needed far less TARP and more stimulus.  After all, even McMegan admits the stimulus did cause some growth.  Wouldn't a larger stimulus have caused, you know, larger GDP growth?