The lessons learned during the 1970's were that Keynesian stimulus resulted in stagflation. Why would it work now? The economic stimulus checks mailed out last year did not pull us out of the tailspin. Why will more work? Keynesian "priming the pump" has never been proven; but the Fed is out of "bullets", no more room to drop interest rates, so what else do you do?
True believers in stimulus can only point to WWII. While GDP did rise and employment did improve, the quality of life did not. The jobs created involved millions of Americans dying in the European and Pacific Theaters while America at home endured rationing of gasoline, meat, nylon, rubber, etc.. While it is possible that stimulus works in this scenario it is doubtful that most Americans will want to endure this level of pain while the economy improves.
I don't have the answers but I do have children that will have to pay for the rapid growth in our level of debt. Throwing close to $1 trillion into an experiment sounds risky when you think what can be done with that type of money; we put a man on the moon with less than that you know.
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