I wonder if the stimulus is not large enough

[StrongBad]

This notion may be silly to many, I know. But wasn't one of the initial stumbling blocks for FDR when he approved government spending but not on a massive basis as he did later?

If we're going to stimulate the economy, I would think that aside from the middle/lower class tax breaks that are in there, it would be best to take on massive infrastructure projects.

I was disappointed to hear a lot of these were cut, especially the high speed railroad provision. That to me is the ideal sort of project the stimulus should be focusing on.

[babylonsister]

1. It probably isn't big enough, but try getting anything bigger

by rethugs at this point. I think the Dems are doing what they can; I wouldn't discount further stimulus action down the road should it become necessary.

[Baikonour]

2. It needs to be in the upwards of 2 trillion, according to some.

Since that's how much GDP we'll be losing.

But if Obama tried to pass a 2 trillion stimulus plan, every republican's head would explode (which, obviously, isn't a bad thing).

[earthside]

3. It is too big now.

Without down payments by cutting military spending and corporate welfare and ending the Bush tax-giveaways to the rich, this package is going to blow so big a hole in the national debt that we are going to be in a depression for years. (This catastrophe was caused by excessive debt; how can even more massive debt solve it?)

The Great Depression was caused by a different set of circumstances than this crisis -- using seventy year old strategies to combat this downturn will not work. We were an industrial nation in the 1930s, we're not anymore; we were not a debtor nation in the 1930s, we are now.

I wish Obama would junk this whole Pelosi-Obey package and write one of his own. I really don't think this is going to work.

And, I'm with you on the high speed rail ... why that is not a top priority is beyond me, or are even the Democrats so in love with the automobile era that they cannot envision a different future?

[StrongBad]

5. I think the Great Depression started in pretty much exactly the same way

I don't know why you say it was different, but in my mind the Depression was caused by bank failures and credit defaults which made borrowing impossible for businesses and thus crashed the economy.

The severity was no doubt worse and quicker to happen back then, but the root problem was very similar.

I think massive Gov't spending can do something, but if the "jolt" is anemic, it's better to do nothing than potentially waste money.

[high density]

4. It's not big enough

The senate will be back in six months talking about another bill. I think it has to be broken up this way to allow the Repubes and the MSM to choke it down.

[LynnTheDem]

6. It isn't. Thanks to the Rushlic Pary of No.

But it's a damn sight better than the bushshit policies of TAX CUTS TAX CUTS TAX CUTS that got us into this disasterous situ in the first place.