The stimulus is expensive, dangerous -- and necessary

What government can do, however, is try to manage the process so that it doesn’t spin out of control, as it probably would, and turn a recession into something deeper and longer. That’s what the stimulus is about. By making public investments in projects — rebuilding the energy grid, expanding public transit, catching up on years of deferred maintenance of roads and bridges, computerizing medical records — government can provide short-term employment to some people who would otherwise be left unemployed as a result of the adjustment process. And if those projects are carefully selected, then they should be able to pay for themselves in the form of greater output, higher incomes and increased government tax revenue in the future.