"Part of the reason that people aren't spending is they don't know what these characters in Washington are going to do," says Howard Baetjer of Towson University.
"Japan tried six spending packages in the early 1990s. The result? A decade of lost growth," points out Ben Powell of Suffolk University. "It's the government's own policies that contributed to the bubble. The government's not the answer to it."
I wanted to ask the bailout's big boosters about that. Two agreed to talk, Maxine Waters of the House Finance Committee and Majority Leader Hoyer.
Hoyer conceded that he "overstated the case" when he said every economist endorsed government action.
Wasn't the bubble caused by too much debt? I asked.
"No doubt about it."
So the answer is more debt?
"Most economists believe that's the case."
This stimulus spending is this going to work?
"I hope so."
Might it cause hyperinflation?
"We hope it doesn't. "
Well, that's comforting.
"Government can't sit and just twiddle its fingers," Rep. Waters told me. "We have got to interject money into these banks and these systems that help this economy work."
How are you going to pay for it?
"We have borrowed money before. We continue to borrow money, but we pay it back."
She left a few things out. Debt means interest payments and higher taxes in the future. It also means inflation when the Fed prints money to reduce the real value of the debt.
But the politicians are confident that they can wisely spend trillions of your dollars. The arrogance of the political class is stunning.