> Britain was once an imperial power ...
In the end, we're all dead of course.
I'm just saying that what we've seen so far is a modest stimulus to the private sector (think: banks, insurance, continued MIC support, and autos; paid for, in part, by deficit spending[*]) and what we got was a modest recovery there (and in the case of banks, a modest profit for the treasury). What's really holding the US back is the public sector. A Maiden Lane SPV for state and local governments could result in a recovery there as well. And then we can deal with the deficit.
Just as a for instance, there are hundreds of state and local governments who are trapped in interest rate swaps that are bleeding them dry for no good reason. They are analogous to margin calls on AIG. Put togehter a Fed-based effort to buy them out of that; give them a chance to dig themselves out (which they have no chance of now, what with the boot of Goldman on their necks); and take the long term view ... these places will recover. As it stands, what we have to "look forward to" is more municipal bankrupcy.
In the mean time, all the dire predictions about higher interest rates (which have instead plummeted!) and hyper-inflation (as opposed to hitting historic lows!) is ahistoric and anti-intellectual. I'm surprised to see you take that view; are you also buying rations and ammo? It's too late to buy gold.
/jordan
[*] We're also, of course, deficit spending on the barest minimum of safety-net programs, you know "stuff" -- like food stamps. That needs to continue.