Of course stimulating the winners, as long as there is job creation, makes more sense then stimulating the losers.

The reason we have this stimulus plan that won't work is that we are constantly being lied to. WWII is pointed to as proof that deficit spending works to stimulate the economy. But key facts are left out.

The teaching is that the economy is measured by adding consumption and investment; so giving jobs to the unemployed increases consumption which in turn increases the economy. The teaching also states that all other factors must remain constant, therefore totalitarianism is required. You hope that people don't buy imports with the deficit money they are given and you hope they don't just save the money.

The New Deal wasn't putting an end to the Great Depression. Deficit spending increased after America entered the fight in WWII but so did totalitarianism. Rations and price fixing became the norm. Rent control, and laws preventing employers from firing people also became the norm. This is what it takes for deficit spending to work. That's why Thomas Friedman's article makes sense; it is more of an investment and not just a deficit without the economic controls to ensure a return.

There are many things missing in today's stimulus deficit that were present in WWII.
1. In WWII we drafted the unemployed. Giving these men paychecks who previously did not have one or had a lower one, increased consumption and therefore stimulated the economy. Today we call up Guardsmen and Reservists, taking them away from jobs that paid them more than what we pay them in the military. This reduces consumption and destimulates the economy.
2. There are no price, rent, and employment controls as there was during WWII. In WWII employers were prevented from firing people. Today we have given billions to banks and auto manufacturers who have in turn laid off thousands of people. This reduces their consumption and the consumption of the people who work at the businesses that the laid off people use to frequent. So there are less people able to buy mortgages and cars. This is in direct contradiction to the teachings of stimulus deficit spending. Deficit spending only works as a stimulant if you keep people employed.
3. During WWII the Lend Lease program turned out to be better than employing the unemployed because the money went directly to buying war products that were given to WWII allies for free. This directly increased consumption whereas if the money was used for paychecks one hopes that the employees don't save it and don't buy imports. Lend Lease did not have this worry as it directly increased consumption.
4. The Marshal Plan after the war was another deficit to help other countries rebuild. In exchange for taking our money they had to open their borders to American exports. This was part of America's transition from a war-time totalitarian economy back to a free market economy. Today's stimulus plan does nothing to increase the consumption of America's exports.

This depression may not be as bad as the great depression when starvation and homelessness is considered. But without the increase in exports like we had in WWII, it will probably take much longer to work our way out of it. The fact that the New Deal had limited success before the war, seems to indicate that this is true.

Don't believe those that tell you that deficits and war are automatically good for the economy. Without totalitarianism and without an increase in exports, we will not see the same benefits we saw during WWII no matter how much we spend.

This is the reason our Secretary of State is flying to foreign countries telling them we have to work together to end this crisis, and why our President is saying "buy American". They both know that this stimulus plan will not work.

We are in for a long haul on this one. Angels would do well to focus on investments (like mine) that have a financial gain for the end customer.