And of course independents are responding to questions of the expense. Those are actually good questions, something that liberals should perhaps try to defend. As usual, the GOP from time to time actually talks about things that concern independents while liberal Democrats like to spend a few months talking about sex scandals (oh the hypocracy!), governor Palin, Tea Baggin, and calling anyone who questions them an uneducated moron, while ignoring the great heist that Naomi Klein is warning about. Hmm, its a wonder that anyone who isn't sex-crazed pays any attention to liberal opinion leaders at all.

Number of years it took the economy to fail: 8 years (or maybe since Reagan, who knows)

Number of years the Repugnants want it fixed: 1/12 (i.e., in one month)

These crybabies wrecked the economy and our lives and what are they saying now? "Tax breaks for the rich, tax breaks for the rich."

They truly are repugnant to me. Yeah, I'm bitter.

... that they're giving massive blood transfusions to a patient who is gushing blood out of a severed artery know as the trade deficit. It doesn't matter how much blood they pump it, it all quickly vanishes overseas to pay for foreign-made goods and to pay offshore workers.

Perhaps when the stupid Americans are living in tents they'll abandon their hopes of a republican-created Utopia.

I almost wish McCain would have won so we could have declined to collapse and we could get on with REALLY changing this country in a profound, drastic and radical way.

Go on, America. Give the wheel back to the republicans. Let's see how that works out for you. Already you've lost 30-50% of your retirement savings and you get to watch your house values deflate for years to come. Why not try for being totally wiped out as the republicans give Wall Street access to the rest of your nest eggs?

As a left-wing pork barrel wet dream: bull's eye.

Let's review the Republican gameplan.

1) Fight tooth and nail, to the point of threatening fillibuster, to prevent any sort of stimulus

2) When, in an effort to build bi-partisan support the President consults you, make sure you lard up the bill with tax-cuts, which most economists claim to have little, if any, short term stimulative effect.

3) Despite which, not a single GOP Rep. manages to vote for the bill.

4) After three months, during which less than 10% of stimulus funds have been spent - claim it to be a "failure".

5) Blather, rinse, repeat as necessary.

The problem, for the GOP at least, is this: President Obama isn't standing for election for three and a half years, by which time the economy will most likely be growing strongly again, and unemployment will be back at normal(?) levels.

Voters aren't stupid. The people running the GOP these days apparently are.

Of couse it is--I only like the high of my foolish choices--never said I wanted to pay the inevitable cost--Now you dam liberal big government guys, you get to work & make me high,er, happy now !!! & dont expect me to foot the bill !!

It's truly amazing to me to watch the Republicans go on and on about how horrible the Obama presidency is when it's not even been 6 months since he took office. The wholesale destruction of our economy and country was years in the making and Jesus himself can't just magically fix it in 6 months.

We'll see if the Democrats end up shooting themselves in the foot by not taking advantage of their majority but the Republicans need to just STFU for now - their hypocritical rantings on fiscal responsibility ring hollow after decades of ballooning deficits and selling out to big business lobbyists.

This kind of partisan bickering is what caused the whole mess in the first place. The last thing the country needs is more of the same.

It didn’t take that long. Just a couple months and we’re able to see the façade the Democrats put up before the election fall away.

Democrats claimed to be the party of fiscal responsibility AND the party of welfare. The sad part is they actually fooled enough people that they could be the first humans in history to reconcile those disparate policies.

But, it was only a matter of time until reality got in the way. It sucks, but that's the way it is.

And just for the record – I’m no ideologue. I wish that government spending could jolt the economy back to life! But unfortunately, that’s just not the way the world works.

The Obama years are going to be win/win for people like me. Either the economy gets better in which case I don’t care who’s in office or the economy stays bad and the Democrats get voted out.

If it exists, such a book should be delivered to all GOP legislators, as they clearly have no clue of what it takes to implement a stimulus package of this magnitude.

Obama ain't the tooth fairy, people. It's going to take 6-12 months to fund projects which provide direct stimulus to the economy (i.e., the most bang for the buck). Tax breaks are quick, but you have very little control over how the money is spent.

Of course, understanding this issue takes a little imagination and some research, so I'm confident the GOP will never figure it out. Independent voters, however, should have no problem if explained properly.

I am on the job market, and I have recently noticed that more companies seem to be hiring. This is a fairly recent observation, so it could just be a blip, but if it truly is a sign that unemployment is turning around, it will probably be another month or two before the stats start to turn around. If a company decides to hire someone one today, the recruiting and interview process takes anywhere from two weeks to two months. My guess is that by September, unemployment will start to come down or at least stabilize, and at that point Obama's numbers will start to go back up. The American economy is a huge ship that takes a long time to change course, but my gut feeling is that we are turning it around.