Somebody: But, it's obviously *not* a result of the stimulus, considering that the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression began long before the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Americans are saying to the government, "Because you haven't done nearly enough to help us, we want you to help us even less!"
It's pathetic that Americans only see government as an active agent. A bad economy is like the weather to most people here, a natural event entirely beyond human control. If you go to a pub or a diner and hear folks talk about the economy, those are terms it's described in. It's not even just that Americans don't get angry at Wall Street bankers and profit-hoarding corporations. It's worse than that. It's that it doesn't even *occur* to them that they could possibly be blamed. Only the politicians can be faulted. The corporations, if they're thought of at all, which is unusual, are simply looking after their self-interest, and are hence blameless.