What? From Krugman, quoting Lizza:
[Council of Economic Advisers chair Christina] Romer’s analysis, deeply informed by her work on the Depression, suggested that the package should probably be more than $1.2 trillion. The memo to Obama, however, detailed only two packages: a five-hundred-and-fifty-billion-dollar stimulus and an eight-hundred-and-ninety-billion-dollar stimulus. Summers did not include Romer’s $1.2-trillion projection. The memo argued that the stimulus should not be used to fill the entire output gap; rather, it was “an insurance package against catastrophic failure.” At the meeting, according to one participant, “there was no serious discussion to going above a trillion dollars.”Why wouldn't it be an option? Why wouldn't it even be discussed? If in fact, the chair of the council of economic advisers had said that $1.2 trillion was what was needed? Even as a straw man, why not propose the actual amount that was needed?
