The Rant

If you tax group A to buy stuff for group B, group A will have less money to spend in the same amount as group B has more money.  So the net gain to the economy is zero.  What you have is income redistribution, not economic stimulation. In general, Obama is transferring money from the private sector to the  public sector.  Does the public sector grow the economy? Does it innovate new products?  How innovative are the post office, or the public school system or even NASA if you get right down to it.   These ideas are not new. They have been tried before.  They do not produce economic growth; far from it. 

    Throw a trillion dollars down a rat hole.  ($100 billion to the states to shore up medicare, $200 million for the National Mall in Washington, $500 million to install new bomb detectors in airports, $400 million to Nasa to do climate change research, etc.)   If the Republicans are smart, they will allow the Democrats to take full credit for these brilliant ideas.