[Arryn]

Originally posted by archaeolept:
yah, massive deficit spending is the traditional way to get the economy revving. spend now, pay later. the hundreds of billions in deficit spending this Last year quite dwarf the few billion in tax cuts.

The tax cut isn't a "few" billion. It's well over 300 billion over ten years. For more info, check out this link, and this link, and this link.

To quote from the first article:

Economic Effects. Tax cuts have often been rationalized on the grounds that they would stimulate long-run economic growth, but that argument is implausible for this package. Relatively few taxpayers would see a reduction in their marginal tax rate beyond 2005 when the temporary AMT relief is set to expire. As a result, there would be negligible effect on incentives to work, save, or invest in unproductive tax shelters. Moreover, by adding to the burgeoning budget deficits, the tax cuts would raise interest rates and discourage investment by businesses and purchases of homes and cars by consumers. These responses would tend to stifle economic growth.