In the run-up to this weekend's G-8 summit at Camp David, journalists have unfavorably compared European "austerity" with Barack Obama's economic policies.

The fiscal stimulus was both so expensive and so badly flawed that it was rendered ineffective; a recent paper that vindicates the plan fails to measure the number of people who found work and the effectiveness with which the Obama stimulus created jobs.

Barack Obama's proposed economic stimulus is more than twice as large as the biggest previous fiscal boost.

President Obama acts like he runs the US economy. However, his plans for economic recovery have hurt more than they have helped.

Many in the mainstream media have been cheerleading for Barack Obama. They and he both naturally hope for a strong economic recovery. After all, Obama can't keep blaming the economic doldrums on George W. Bush forever.

Last week's announcement by four major oil companies that they are setting up a billion dollar joint venture to create a rapid-response system to contain deep offshore oil spills shows that private firms can act faster in a crisis than government regulators.

Until recently, there was wide consensus among macroeconomists that activist fiscal policy was inadvisable.

Until recently, there was wide consensus among macroeconomists that activist fiscal policy was inadvisable.