Good. Fast. Expensive. Pick Two

Worth a Read - Megan McCardle's take on the stimulus package and the theory behind it. Read the reasons, but this is the conclusion:

So if we're going to do stimulus, judging from our not-very-good best example, what we want to do is pack a massive wallop as quickly as possible, to shock those "animal spirits" back into a more normal economic rhythm. I am skeptical that this will work even if tried, for reasons I have outlined elsewhere. But if we are going to try it, we should be focusing less on the Democratic wish list and more on figuring out where money can be most quickly and effectively spent.

...or course, I don't mind some Democratic wish list items being on the list (Especially energy - since we need to get that going. But there are also a lot of Dem wish-list items that require a lot of central planning and shouldn't be hurried)