My initial knee jerk reaction to your comments was, "You must be insane." We have gone into deficit spending for the last 7 years to fund a war that we could not afford.

You mention spending on energy and broad-band initiatives. I wouldn't consider those as strictly defense issues and therefore probably would not lump them in that catagory.

Doug:

The single redeeming factor of the great depression was WWII.

You are either uninformed or joking.

The redeeming factor of 1893 (second worst and not by much) was getting to 1910. It was a very rocky road. The unemployment stats are still out there if yo care to check and, by the way, what to do think "LABOR DAY" IS ALL ABOUT?
Better check, it has nothing to do with unions.

Defense spending has no spillover benefits. All the tanks and missiles made by costly defense spending will simply go into storage and collect dust. That kind of spending will not put the economy back on its feet. Just look at defense spending over the last 20 years, it just keeps going up and up and up, but it isn't helping anyone.

Similarly fixing the so-called crumbling infrastructure sounds nice on paper, but fancy new bridges and roads with fewer potholes don't actually benefit us too much either. Japan made that mistake years ago as reported recently by the New York Times.

Energy independence on the other hand gives us something that is constantly getting consumed and puts dollars that are currently getting shipped to the middle east back into our own economy.

Education spending gives future workers the knowledge they need to start and run businesses. Yes that will take years for that money to come back, but as we speak states are cutting back on education and that will harm us for years too. Millions schools are ready and willing to hire teachers and buy computers.

Gee, does that mean we're also missing the 93% tax bracket they imposed during WW2?

That economists all agree that WW2 brought the United States out of the Great Depression is greatly depressing. They need to start over and pay attention this time.

As a 64 y/o Nam veteran and small businessman who is rather hawkish abut protecting American interests throughout the world, I do not believe that "excessive spending for the military industrial complex" is the long term answer to our national economic problems.

We need to invest adequately to maintain our military technology and capability; but military goods are not going to rebuild the manufacturing base for the USA.

As was noted in the news tonight, Obama's plan to create 3.5 million new jobs would basically costs $250,000 per job to create. Would it be more productive to give $50,000.00 to 21.5 million (or $25K to 43 Million) needy Americans who would spend most of that money and get it into the economy in a relatively short time?

Or how about government loans to qualified individuals or coporations to set up manufacturing plants to employ people.

The "trickle down" system of "wealth" has simply NEVER worked very well in the past, has it? The apparent problem is that it is easier to give large sums of money to large companies, than it would be to try to screen and select 3.5 to 43 Million individual Americans . . . that simply takes too long and too much effort to put such a program into place and to qualify and select individuals for low interests loans, etc.

However, funneling the money through large corporations for government projects will be fraught with price gouging, and fraud . . . that is inevitable also. There are no easy answers to all of this.

And .. . just think . . . 9 out of 10 of the CEOs who ran the corporations and orchestrated or oversaw the orchestration of the pyramid and Ponzi schemes, the "derivatives" frauds, and other frauds that resulted in the economic melt down of our national economy are STILL running those corporations. . . . Does that make rational sense to anyone? And now this government "bailout" monies are being invested in those SAME FAILING CORPORATIONS?

A definition of "insanity" is: "Repeatedly doing the same things in the same ways; and expecting different results." Isn't that basically what Cogress is doing with the "bailout monies"?

Apparently this administration does not believe they are able to solve the economic crisis. They will spend 800 billion dollars and all they know how to say is its going to get much worse. Theyve been saying that for months ( Well before the elections even) and will continue that line for years and years no doubt. Wall street is listening to Obama and Geithner and believe in what they are telling America. Stocks dropped to new lows in response to the presidents complete lack of faith in his plan and this country. Tomorrow and the next day and 1,000 days to follow we can look forward to the same negative outlook from this administration..
At a time when we need strong leadership and optimistic people in power we have people who are confused and only know how to scare everyone worse then they already are.

Everyone is an expert....There is nothing we can do now..Let's see how this 'Stimulus' will help get this country going....In my humble, expert opinion..., it simply will not work as shown by History alone.