@Walter Hinteler,
Walter, Some people's doom's day projections have no basis in fact; they are guessing without any background in economics or the workings of capitalism.
This is the very first time in human history that we are having a world-wide financial crisis of this magnitude in contemporary times. Hoover's time was much different in every way. If the governments do nothing, the economies of most developed countries will be destroyed, because the trends that were set last year is a downwards spiral in employment, asset values, and closing of factories.
What this financial crisis did was to destroy the liquidity that once existed, and no economy can survive without credit in a cash based economy.
The Obama team are doing everything they can to shore up the banks and finance companies, because without them, trade will cease to happen.
The foundation of our economy must be saved, and Obama and his team are looking at the long-term survival of our country's economy by ensuring that the foundations of our country stay competitive. That means looking at our infrastructure, our education, our health care system, and job growth.
This is about survival. When there's a forest fire, some times adding more fire saves the forest.
If left alone on its own merits to repair our economy, more families will lose their jobs and whatever assets they own, because job losses exceeding half a million every month cannot be sustained without some outside stimulus.
People talk about the huge deficits being built up by this stimulus plan, but the other alternative is no tax income when everybody goes broke. This trend is already happening, because property, sales, and income tax receipts are already on a downward trend. It will only get worse if nothing is done.
It may take several years to make up this deficit, but that's a much better choice when we can "see" that tax revenue will increase as jobs begins to grow. We need that foundation of job growth to realize that the current spending is the only smart option available.
