When John Maynard Keynes formulated his general theory of government deficit spending as a counterbalance to lower private demand in times of economic slowdown, he probably did not assume that the government had already been running years of massive deficits with no end in sight leading to enormous accumulated debt relative to GDPs.
So-called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors such as Paxil, Prozac and Zoloft, gained widespread use on the theory that depressed people suffer from a deficit of the brain chemical serotonin.
If the two to three year lag theory were plausible, the U.S. trade deficit with China would be falling in 2010, not rising, as the steepest appreciation in the Yuan occurred in 2008.
In theory, he and Congress could couple a bigger stimulus with more ambitious deficit-reduction by reforming entitlements (such as health care and pensions for the elderly) and taxes.