It works like this, think of pushing a kid on a swing. There is an optimal time when you push where you will get the best result. It's not in the middle or on the back swing, it's at the point where the downswing begins. If we push at the wrong point, i.e., get the stimulus wrong, it won't do a lot of good. If we get it right, we can set the stage for long term growth for many many years to come.

Your alternative, we do nothing, and the economy sinks further into recession, tax revenues go WAY down, and the deficit goes WAY up ANYWAY, and millions of Americans suffer.

Or, we jump start the economy, as almost every serious economist suggests is the way out, and the deficit goes way up in the medium run, but the economy starts growing again and eventually we can get the deficit under control. A trillion+ dollars pumped into the economy several years in a row could well get things moving again if it is spent correctly. We're damned if we do and damned if we don't as far as the deficit goes.