CBO appears to have a mandate to only do primary predictions based on existing conditions. I agree that they shouldn't be taken as the only source--their record has not been stellar over the past ten years.

The main problem with this "stimulus," or the Bush "bailout," or any massive injection of government money, is that the normal balancing factors of the market are shoved down and crushed. Like I said, nobody's going to be making hard decisions as long as there's a shot at a big load of Federal cash to keep them on the status quo. That includes both government and private groups.

A lot of people are trying to dig through this bill before it rolls over us. There are some hidden bombs in there that are going to have a negative effect on business, not positive. This is just the latest one I've read about.