TightWind is written by Kyle Baxter. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Clive Cook:

Under these circumstances one could forgive the US for lecturing others on fiscal policy, were it not for the fact that (a) poor US financial regulation and inattentive monetary policy caused the crisis in the first place, and (b) its own fiscal policy is a shambles. President Barack Obama is telling other countries to maintain fiscal stimulus even as his own fades and the US Congress is denying his modest requests for extra spending. For this, Mr Obama himself is mostly to blame.

He and his allies in Congress bungled last year’s stimulus. A big package was needed, and was duly delivered. But its design was poor: too much spending on shovel-ready projects that weren’t; too little in tax cuts. It was seriously oversold, leaving voters sceptical that more stimulus would do any good. Worst of all, with public debt through the roof, the administration has failed to give the smallest sign of its exit strategy. Last week its budget director, Peter Orszag, disclosed his own. He said he was quitting; colleagues said (though he denied) that he was frustrated by White House indecision over medium-term fiscal control.

Perhaps liberals should have thought about that before bungling the initial stimulus as described above (and therefore mostly wasting its potential effect), and committing the U.S. to a trillion dollars of new spending with healthcare reform, thus wasting the nation’s capital and will to stimulate the economy. The left, and Obama in particular, had a golden opportunity to handle the stimulus in a non-partisan manner to truly help the economy. Instead, though, they used it as a chance to rapidly increase government spending, as their will desired.

Never waste a good crisis indeed.