As always, an interesting and enlightening post from Paul Krugman on why the stimulus spending can outlast the official recession without worrying about whether it’ll do more harm than good. In short, and lamentably: because the employment problems of the large mass of Americans are doubtless going to stick with us long after the bean counters declare the recession over. He puts it at about 2011.
By the way, while I realize that his Nobel prize was about actual theoretical economics, I think he deserves an extra reward for being that smart and still being able to explain it to the rest of us.