If this report is correct, President Bush will be correcting one of his largest mistakes by dropping the steel tariffs.
I expect the removal of these tariffs will add a significant boost to the US economy that will show up on economic indicators in a matter of months. While I remain frustrated by President Bush's fiscal policies, I don't think the economy will be an issue next Fall (at least for the Democrats). When you look at the removal of the steel tariffs, President Bush's tax cuts, low interest rates, and our current stage of the business cycle (early part of recovery), the economy will be sizzling by November 2004.
LOL - Krugman is, uh, unique in applying his political wishes to his economic analysis.
Maybe we could coin a new term "to krugger" - it would be like fisking, but specifically applied to economics.
What is most amusing is how mum everyone is at this point in time regarding the formerly much reviled tax cuts.
Economic stimulus is such a challenging game because the reaction is slow in coming. Moderate injections are best, but it is so tempting to over-stimulate.
It is early, but so far, things look promising (to me at least, but then my name isn't Krugman).