Economist: 'The stimulus substituted for thinking'

Economist Jeffrey Sachs, the director of Columbia University’s Earth Institute, on Sunday slammed the Obama administration’s approach to combating the recession.

Sachs took particular issue with the multi-billion dollar stimulus package Obama signed into law shortly after taking office that added to the deficit when the country was already drowning in red ink.

“They added to [the deficit] and thought that that would work both politically and economically,” he told CNN’s "Fareed Zakaria GPS," adding, “What’s happened is the stimulus substituted for thinking; the stimulus substituted for planning.”

Sachs argues the stimulus included tax and spending measures that were aimed at propping up market sectors that had already imploded because of vanishing demand.

“[What] I found surprising about the Obama approach was that it basically was trying to get people to start spending again where they were saying, ‘We’re tired, we’re tired, we need to save a little bit,’” he said. “And once one realizes that consumption is going to be down, we’d need a different approach from simply ‘stimulus,’ from cutting taxes for households to spend more.”

A better approach would have improved the country’s infrastructure and moved the public transportation system into the 21st century, Sachs contends.

“Our rail is falling farther and farther behind what China or Spain or Japan or other countries are doing with high-speed rail,” he said.

Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board member Laura D’Andrea Tyson echoed a similar sentiment on ABC’s "This Week."

“I think we should continue to look at major spending on infrastructure projects,” she said, but added, “We do have a payroll tax credit that has been offered to companies that bring on new unemployed workers into the workforce. I think we should continue that.”

Sachs told CNN that extensions in tax relief add to the deficit without addressing the long-term issues facing the country.

“We need a long-term strategy based around investment rather than consumption,” he said, adding that without a tactical shift, the U.S. could succumb to the deficit crisis plaguing parts of Europe.

“When is that going to happen with us? We don’t know; but it could happen at any time,” he said, adding, “In the U.K., in Spain, in Portugal, in Greece, in Ireland, they hit the wall. They had to take truly very harsh and tough measures in response to the loss of confidence. And I think we’re, in any event, digging ourselves into a very, very deep hole.”