http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/08599201368300

Seems awfully one sided to me but would like to get some other perspectives.

I've viewed ARRA and the deficit spending that has fueled it as necessary evils to prevent economic tailspin. I also hold with those who think that the stimulus enacted at the end of Bush's time in office wasn't enough, and that delays to further stimulus hurt us. You can't have an economy if no one is spending money, and if the private sector isn't bothering, it's up to the government to step in. It won't be efficient, it won't be pretty, and I fully expect some eye-rolling expenditures (thought they typically aren't the ones pointed out by detractors a la Coburn/McCain), but the overall effect can be positive.

We can't know what would have happened had the stimulus bills not been enacted, but 30's level Depression isn't hard to imagine.

I think it did do what it was supposed to do in arresting the free fall and preventing rampant inflation. I'm all for the second phase of infrastructure spending and updating. something we should have been focusing on for decades. sadly it takes an end around to push us the direction weve known we need to go since the 70's

Or, it just artificially prolonged an inevitable decline.

There really isn't anything congress could have done but ARRA, and ARRA wasn't terrible in and of itself, but we have such serious systemic problems that shifting money from the future to now seems like it'll be a largely moot issue. Deficit spending is a good idea when you have a strong forecast and a plan to capitalize on it. We have neither, just more financial jackals circling for what's left of our prosperity.

Check back in 10-20 years. Maybe then some might draw some conclusions. Otherwise the economy is such a complicated machine that people can probably only pretend to know. The "Experts" are those with the educated guesses. One thing is for sure, our economy is going to suck balls if the media insists upon using the metric of a few years ago before the bubble burst. And by rights the economy should suck balls for the next 10 years easy. People paying down their debts and saving up money....that whole living within the means thing, does nothing to make a booming economy, even if it was booming by going deep into the hole. The fantasy ended and hello the ugly, halitosis breath mug in our face that is the grim reality of now. Honestly when people making E-5 pay are offered 300k mortgages with no money down, well, heh. Obviously a huge number of us were dumb enough to take the bait and you wonder why government was so nonchalant about being able to stick it's hand into our wallets as well.

As for green industry as well as the rest of the domestic re-investment, well again check back in 10-20 years. Either we have moved past our old model that the developing world is embracing or we have been buried by our own hubris by then and China is enjoying a comfy hegemony over the planet after taking our place as the biggest plunderer of the planet's resources. The country's future really depends upon how we can distinguish ourselves from that unsustainable model...which is one we are having trouble being competitive with as of late to begin with so why insist on perpetuating it is anyone's guess. If government can provide enough encouragement, than great. It will be Obama's legacy. If Not then we can elect some more so called masters of the current way of doing things and keep that leaky tub afloat a bit longer until someone finds a way to make the other issues make a bit more sense as well as profitable industries. Or we can skip all that, continue to fight about stupid nonsense culture wars shit and join the ranks of all the other has-been powers of the world who find that more often than not there is no chair after the music stops.