When Obama supported the Republicans efforts to remove the stimulus provision allowing states to expand their Medicaid-financed family planning services, there was relatively little discussion of the move on stimulus grounds. Everyone basically assumed it was put in because it was a liberal priority and taken out because it was a conservative priority. But over at Economix, Nancy Folbre offers an interesting argument favoring the proposal in terms of stimulus. "Increased spending on family planning (including contraceptives) would generate about as many direct and indirect jobs as any other health expenditures," she says, "and probably more than an equivalent tax cut. But the short-term effects are less important than benefits down the road." Her evidence is convincing.
