Central banker says fiscal stimulus doesn’t work
As a certified stimulus skeptic, I’m always happy when smart people agree with me — particularly when those people are as influential as Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank. Trichet said at a press conference this week:
With respect to fiscal policies, a discretionary fiscal loosening in EU countries should be avoided. There is ample evidence that activist fiscal policies were not effective in stabilising European economies but rather led to sustained increases in the ratios of government expenditure and debt to GDP. Allowing the free operation of automatic stabilisers in countries with strong fiscal positions and safeguarding the long-term sustainability of public finances are the best contributions that fiscal policy can make to macroeconomic stability.
Too bad Ben Bernanke wasn’t so wise.
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David Nicklaus has covered St. Louis business for more than 25 years. His column appears three days a week on the Post-Dispatch business page. 
Fiscal stimulus probably doesn’t work in an economic sense, but it is politically rewarding in a world of people who don’t understand economics and basically believe that it is possible for “government” to give them something for nothing.
(By that, I don’t mean that all government spending is bad; it’s just that most programs that are cost-effective have already been funded.)