How's that Stimulus Working?

Back when the stimulus was being discussed, I said it was folly. It wouldn't work. It was like taking water out of one end of the pool, poring it back into the other end, and concluding that there was now more water. It has been a year and a half and the economy is sputtering. There is talk of a double-dip recessions. Gosh, all those smart people in Washington somehow didn't see this coming but yours truly wrote a blog on February 5, 2009 called 'Stimulus Stupidity.' How does that happen? Is it possible that my mere minor in economics can trump the multiple PhDs in Obama's economic team?

Much of economics is common sense. You don't encourage job creation by making it more expensive to create jobs. You don't encourage working by increasing the tax rate. Nor do you encourage work by constantly extending unemployment benefits. In order to spend money, the government must first acquire it through taxation; therefore, it is incapable of 'stimulating' an economy through spending. However, it could stimulate an economy by taking less money (i.e. cut taxes). The Obama Administration is doing the opposite of these common sense measures and is surprised the economy isn't growing.