I responded to the other comment but I wanted to make one point on the article itself. I think a lot of the fear right now is based on the negative tone of the Obama administration and I think they’re doing the exact right thing. Mr. Resler (from the article) makes the same point by saying...

"It's not surprising that politicians exaggerate this," says Resler, who predicts "The tone of the message is going to start changing immediately; now that we have the stimulus in hand, you enhance it by saying positive things."

As someone who was too young to have a vested interest in the Reagan presidency it seems to me the reason for his success was largely that he made people feel good about themselves and their country. That made them feel good about life which in turn made them go out and buy things.

The Obama administration needs to create as terrible looking a crisis as possible right now because then the recovery is all the more euphoric which in turn makes people want to go out and buy all the more stuff.