This whole "double-down" strategy is a bit terrifying to me. But it could work. The real key though, I think, is that it would only work if the stimulus money put people to work on projects that would increase the Nation's competitive edge: green infrastructure, broadband, better schools. Dumping the stimulus into tax cuts for home buyers--which serve only to pull demand forward--that strikes me as a useless wealth transfer.

Any stimulus spending should both create jobs now (to distribute consumption dollars and ease consumer fear) and should pay dividends in the future by creating an atmosphere where the average worker can be more productive. The WWII stimulus obviously had a major impact because, by winning the war, we emerged with a huge competitive advantage. Unless we're going to rebuild that advantage by bombing our competition back to 1944, which I hope we aren't considering (...), we've gotta find another way to construct that advantge. That's the challenge.