Thursday, June 17, 2010

Do You Like Free Candy Bars?

Gallup surveyed voters earlier this week asking this question:
Would you favor additional government spending to create jobs and stimulate the economy?
The results are not surprising: 60% of respondents said "yes", including 52% of independents. Who doesn't want more jobs and a stimulated economy?

Gallup is usually credible but I have to chide them for this one, because the question could (and should) have been worded much differently. I'd have probably asked it this way:
Would you favor additional government spending intended to create jobs and stimulate the economy, even if it wouldn't end up doing either?
Maybe the results would have been a little different.

5 comments:

HANK said...

The VP was discussing yesterday how many thousands of road projects will be generated through stimulus spending.

Isn't the cash used to fund these projects merely money taken from one group of people, and moved to another? If so, jobs really aren't created; they're just shifted from one bucket to another.

Patrick said...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window

Shane said...

http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/another-government-employee-bailout

Charlie Dodson said...

www.rotten.com

Gallup dropped the ball on this one.

Snuffy said...

Yes, I like free candy bars.