The current stimulus plan is a lot of bad, or misguided ideas. The current recession has multiple causes, but one lords over them all, too much debt. Our government owes too much money, our citizens owe too much money, and our businesses owe too much money. The savings rate in this country is almost non-existent. We are borrowing money on nothing but the promise that we'll eventually get around to paying it back. There is no substance to back it up.   The other reason for the severity of this recession is our lack of previous recessions. We used to have many more, but MUCH less devastating recessions. Our leaders have come to the conclusion that all recessions are bad, no matter what. Recessions are normal. They're needed as corrections on the markets and to keep the economy stable. Our government has gotten into such a habit of throwing stimulus at the economy to avoid recessions, instead of having a few mild recessions we're instead having a deep and painful one. Stimulus plans in the history of the country have NEVER worked as they were "supposed" to. They've always done either nothing, or in fact made things worse. Either way, it's borrowing money, increasing our debt, for very little to show for it.   How much more do you thing the rest of the world is going to finance this country? What people forget is that if we can't borrow the money, we can't spend it. This plan fails if the rest of the world simply stops lending us money.   Phase 1 of the current stimulus package is an investment in infrastructure. I believe this needs to be done and is a good idea, but I do not believe it is a stimulus. Some people will get work, but it hurts private sector competition and marketplace in doing so. We need to fix our infrastructure. There's no argument there. The problem is we can't afford it right now with our current budget. Borrowing money from other countries to fix our infrastructure isn't going to magically create wealth or a good that can be sold to people. It's like fixing your bathroom at home. You need it, and it's wonderful to have a new one, but if you can't afford it, you can't afford it. Fixing your bathroom isn't going to help you save or make money.   Phase 2 are tax cuts. Tax cuts will help people afford to pay their bills, but in the current market they won't go towards new purchases that will fuel a resurgence in the economy. People will save it or use it to pay off the debts they've gotten themselves into. This is exactly what happened with the "stimulus checks". Most people paid down their debt (which is good), but didn't buy new stuff to stimulate the economy. And again, any tax cuts means we're just borrowing that much more money from other countries, which we can't afford much longer.   The only effective stimulus of the economy has been a long term investment in Science and Engineering. Things like the space program and military Research that result in goods that can be sold in the market and creates wealth.   The only part of this plan that comes close is the investment in energy. The government provides the start-up costs to create the energy grid in the country which would start a new privately owned industry. They providing the funds to create the technology, the infrastructure, then turn it over to the private markets would jump-start the industry and also start the process of moving us to a completely domestic energy market. We could then export this technology to other nations under licenses and patents and create an export market to bring foreign funds into the country.   The biggest thing the government should do, which they won't, is to DECREASE the national budget, not increase the deficit. That would free up funds that we're currently using to be lent to other countries and businesses. On the news you're constantly hearing about liquidity and how banks aren't lending money to people or businesses anymore. If the government paid all $10 TRILLION it owes back, then the people that lent us that $10 TRILLION could lend that $10 TRILLION to other people/businesses/governments. With those funds freed up, the cost of borrowing money in the way of interest rates would also drop. THAT would be a stimulus to the entire world.   They won't do it though. Cutting spending anywhere would upset whoever that money's going to, and that would hurt re-election chances.

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