1 If you believe that those in Washington are foolish, then they probably believe that the current crisis was caused because there wasn't enough deficit spending (or, more likely, that it was caused by the "bad" deficit spending of the other party, not the "good" deficit spending that they'd do).

If you believe that they are actively malicious, then the current situation, in which a crisis entirely of someone else's making is forcing them against their will to usurp unprecedented power unto themselves may not privately be considered a problem at all. In which case, heaping on another helping of the underlying cause makes perfect sense.

Generally, I tend to suspect stupidity over malice in most human affairs. I may, however, make an exception to that rule of thumb where congress is concerned.

The frustrating thing here is that there's no good outcome. If the current plan utterly fails, then us saying "I told you so" will come as little consolation. (and will undoubtedly be met by claims that this stimulus bill just wasn't big enough). But I doubt that will happen. The economy will recover. Probably some of this stimulus bill will help that happen. Most of it will probably hamper it. The very existence of it will help some (the current situation is as much psychological as it is financial, so the perception that something is being done, along with President Obama's undoubted charisma, will have a positive effect, although probably not enough to offset the damage done by either). Unfortunately, that will certainly lead to the perception that this response was the right response.

Here's an idea, maybe we should take a page from the environmentalist playbook and start selling "pork offsets". I smell an opportunity... or maybe that's just bacon.