This one will be ugly: the subprime mortgage crisis, a major housing slump, stock market shocks, financial instruments devaluations, very high oil prices, extremely low household savings and high debt-service ratios.

But, I’m always said to be too optimistic!

If so, why do you think this?

If it comes from taxes, the value of Jones’s stimulus check is offset by the greater taxes paid by Smith, who will then have fewer dollars to spend or invest. If Uncle Sam borrows to pay for the stimulus checks, this borrowing takes money out of the private sector. Any dollars borrowed – whether from foreigners or fellow Americans – for purposes of stimulus would have been spent or invested in other ways were they not loaned to the government.

The only other means of paying for such stimulus is for the Federal Reserve to create new money. Unfortunately, this option leads inevitably to inflation.
The Christian Science Monitor

Also, even if stimulus works in the short run, we stimulate in bad times but aren’t repaying in good times. That is when we lose ground. If we can’t repay during good times we are expanding and increasing the problem, not solving it.

The U.S. is at risk of economic collapse. While most believe that we can avoid that, it is only because we have recognized the risk and trends in place and are taking action.

The question now becomes, is it action that will delay the collapse, avoid it entirely or over correct and cause a “bubble” that later will cause pain to those in the “bubble” when it breaks while others that don’t join in that “irrational exuberance” do quite will and may even profit.