T-D survey: Most say stimulus funding won’t save economy

PUBLIC SQUARE

The government can't buy its way out of this recession, and it shouldn't even be trying. That's the general agreement of respondents to a Richmond Times-Dispatch online survey about federal stimulus spending.

Government's role in our lives -- whether it does too much or not enough -- will be the topic of tomorrow night's Public Square at the newspaper's downtown offices.

A vast majority of respondents to last week's survey said stimulus funding won't save the economy and that the government has no business running car companies, setting executive compensation or providing national health care.

"While it may have been beneficial to prop up the financial industry, I am a believer in the capitalist system to weather the storm on its own and right itself," said survey participant Jeb Hockman, a 57-year-old public-relations specialist from Henrico County.

"The current conditions are painful, but those companies that emerge from the recession will be stronger in the long term. . . . I am still concerned that we could have another downturn, but I think the economy will right itself if left alone."

That free-market spirit was prevalent among 488 responses, with most people saying they would rather let weak companies die than have the government prop them up.

"I believe in free enterprise," said Margaret Johnson, a 66-year-old retiree in Richmond. "Quite simply, I don't believe this is the role of government. The government can't afford to bail out every single segment of this economy. . . . We are going to be bankrupt. . . . Who will then bail out our country? China?"

Federal ownership of automakers elicited the most consistent response, with 84 percent of participants wanting the government to steer clear of Detroit.

"If the automobile industry in the United States can't run their own industry without government help, then they probably should be allowed to go under," said Wayne Staples, 61, an environmental engineer who lives in Chesterfield County.

"The automakers dug their own holes by their past practices," said Jean Scott, 55, a Chesterfield resident who is a librarian at Virginia Commonwealth University. "They need to regroup and begin with new design ideas to make more fuel-efficient, better-engineered cars. If they do that, the public will buy."

The prevailing thought was that overall economic recovery would have to be natural and not forced.

"Government can only redistribute money, not generate it," said Mike Clayton, 55, of Chesterfield, who is semi-retired from a career in engineering and construction. "Small, private businesses must lead the economic turnaround."

"First, spending your way out of debt is impossible," added William Kahl, a 66-year-old retiree in Chesterfield who worked for 40 years in the finance department at DuPont. "Second, except for possibly the military, anything that the government runs is inefficient; thus, taking over private business will be no different."

Distrust of government also was evident in survey responses, with few people saying their elected leaders had the capacity to lead the country out of the current malaise.

"The government has spent billions in taxpayer dollars assisting banks and corporations, yet these same banks routinely fail to pass this assistance on to individuals," said Martin Mills, 62, a federal government retiree who works as a computer consultant from his Amelia County home.

"Just think how well the economy would have been stimulated if the government had paid off home mortgages rather than bailing out greedy banking officials."

Not everyone favored a hands-off approach. A minority of respondents said they thought government spending was a necessary and effective means of getting the country back on its feet.

"The Fed and Treasury programs have prevented real economic disaster, while the Main Street economy is gradually working through the de-leveraging and rationalization processes necessary in a recession," said Ward Waltman, a 59-year-old federal retiree who lives in Hanover County.

"I am optimistic that the federal government will increase its oversight and regulation of the financial markets, which would still allow growth and innovation but provide greater stability to the whole economy in the future."

Contact Zachary Reid at (804) 775-8179 or .

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