Daily Finance: Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com, and Rudolph Penner, a fellow at the Urban Institute and former Congressional Budget Office director, both said Friday that an additional stimulus package would be required to improve the U.S. economy and allow the nation to avoid a double-dip recession…
Mark Zandi said we need to “get the GDP growing before worrying about debt.” He added that with unemployment at 10% and the economy still shedding jobs, it’s more critical to focus on GDP growth now than to worry about the deficit. Zandi’s prescription: About another $200 billion in stimulus, focused on tax breaks to encourage hiring, expanded lending for small business, an expansion of aid to those who have lost their jobs, financial support for state and local governments, and a fix for the housing crisis. While he said he didn’t know the details of the president’s promise of $30 billion for community banks to make loans available to small business, Zandi said he supported more stimulus for small-business lending. (Continued)
