You say "If that trend line continues...". According to the WaPo, the stimulus spending is approximately doubling each month. That trend line can't possibly continue; if it did, all the stimulus money would be spent by early September. And we know the stimulus is supposed to last for 18 months or so, right?

Instead, I think we can expect the trend line to stall at somewhere around the $58 billion per month seen in June. At that rate, the stimulus money will run out next May, which is about right.

that a large portion of the stimulus was used to save/support/prop up the irresponsible banks and companies, and thus the very mentality, that caused the collapse. Perhaps if the stimulus was used to create progressive and creative new avenues of development in economic, infrastructure, education, and energy sectors people would feel more positive about it.

It's still early but there is no strong indication that the administration is planning to enact the radical change we need, which beyond being a failure is both ironic and deeply disappointing.

However, this collapse did not begin at the start of the Bush administration- the seeds were planted long ago, and were tended to by both parties. The petty finger pointing at this stage in the game only magnifies the childish and myopic perspectives of BOTH sides of our government. The failure to implement a effective stimulus also magnifies the deep influence of banking institutions such as Goldman Sachs on our government, for they did not deserve a penny of our tax dollars.

The Democrat plan is to pass a massive stimulus package, most of which will never be funded. At the end of the day all that is left of the Obama plan is the tax cuts. The distance between Bush and Obama is closing faster than the killer asteroid headed for earth. This is what Democrats do, they get elected and then they move to the middle.

Of course the author assumes independents are swayed by GOP talking points, but the reality is Dems don't even give Barack or the Dem congress high marks. This certainly is not change I can believe in. If Obama wants to get anything done, he needs to drop any pretense of getting re-elected and ram the change through. The economic stimulus plan was wussified....it may yet help, but I don't think anyone thought it was a great plan. Democrats have the upper hand due to Republican incompetence....this has nothing to do with ideology. If things don't get better soon, the dems will start bleeding seats. That's politics.

Lightswitch hit the nail on the head. The economic failure is systemic, but we live in a republican form of government, do we not? So, ultimately, the failure also lies with voters as well. People who cling to delusions about parties (and this is equally true of both Democrats and Republicans, or Greens or American Constitutionalists -- it doesn't matter) are part of the problem.

It is really sad to see that people who call themselves adults behave like they are in kindergarten when it comes to politics. Wanting to be part of a "club", they defend it beyond the limits of what reason would otherwise dictate. I don't know any area of life where pointing fingers is an effective form of problem solving.

Mark Twain on so called party loyalty:

"Look at the tyranny of party -- at what is called party allegiance, party loyalty -- a snare invented by designing men for selfish purposes -- and which turns voters into chattles, slaves, rabbits, and all the while their masters, and they themselves are shouting rubbish about liberty, independence, freedom of opinion, freedom of speech, honestly unconscious of the fantastic contradiction; and forgetting or ignoring that their fathers and the churches shouted the same blasphemies a generation earlier when they were closing their doors against the hunted slave, beating his handful of humane defenders with Bible texts and billies, and pocketing the insults and licking the shoes of his Southern master."

Let's get real folks, the economy is in shambles because CITIZENS have permitted the government to be hijacked by corporate interests, a process that's been going on for decades and is only now bearing toxic fruit with full effect. Pointing fingers is exactly what these same interests want their slaves to do, because that prevents them from seeing the man behind the curtain.

Incidentally, I don't see how the stimulus will be effective in the long term (i.e. 5 years from now) as other trends continue to hamper the US economy. These include the decline of the dollar (countries are openly talking about jettisoning the dollar in favor of Special Drawing Rights), the lack of manufacturing in the US, the trade deficit, and our addiction to debt which is shouldering generation upon generation with the sins of their parents. The Obama stimulus was a compromise based on the political need for a stop gap while (hopefully) some more lasting solutions can be presented. It's like the adrenaline shot you give the patient who needs significant more help. The real issue is whether government is ready and willing to do the things it needs to do to get America back on track.

Its tough to feel optimistic when you realize how many brainwashed people there are who do nothing but repeat some script that was programmed into them by a TV show or politician. Democracy means making educated choices; I just don't see how subscribing to party politics helps that in any way. It really is a form of insanity, and I would pity party adherents if I wasn't directly affected by their inability to appreciate reality.

Failure is apparently NOT an orphan, at least where Conservatives are concerned

However, this collapse did not begin at the start of the Bush administration- the seeds were planted long ago, and were tended to by both parties

This canard has been kicking around since the days of Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, and it needs to be set straight.

The PROBLEM that the US economy has had over the past eight years is a growing inequality in incomes. Virtually all the benefits of economic growth have been enjoyed by those at the top of the income ladder. A group to whom GW Bush gave an un-needed and unwanted tax cut. Ordinary Americans, facing housing and health insurance costs that were growing two or thre times faster than their incomes, literally had no other choice than to make increasingly risky investments in real estate in an attempt to keep up. If Mr. Bush and the Republicans had instead used the money on tackling the cost of health insurance, rather than tax breaks for millionaires - we'd literally ALL be much better off today. The fact that Bush spent a trillion or so tax dollars on an uneccesary and illegal war in Iraq, not only means the Government has less money available to fix the economy today - but it also helped drive the cost of energy significantly higher - further stressing the budgets of ordinary Americans. Who can say how much better GM and Chrysler might have fared had gasoline NOT cost north of $4 a gallon last year at this time.