Obama's Trillion Dollar Stimulus May Not be Needed

Falling oil prices, plunging mortgage rates, an "all in" Fed. Maybe we don't need Obama's trillion-dollar stimulus packages after all. Jim Paulsen of Wells Capital doesn't seem to think so:

There is currently much support for a trillion dollar fiscal spending package being proposed by the incoming Obama administration. However, for perspective, consider that the current trailing 12-month federal deficit is about $700 billion and will likely be near a trillion dollars by the time Obama takes office. Therefore, the trillion dollar fiscal package which many think is required next year has already been implemented! Does the consensus appreciate how much policy juice has already been dumped into this economy?

Moreover, many of these record-setting policies have not yet had a sufficient lag time to work, but will by this summer! Although policy actions have not yet shown much positive impact, it would be odd indeed if the record-setting policy response of 2008 produced only modest economic results this year.