Three Strikes And We're Broke

David Brooks says the President and Congress have ignored all three cardinal principles of Obama's chief economic advisor, Larry Summers, who said any stimulus package should be timely, targetted, and temporary:

But they’ve created a sprawling, undisciplined smorgasbord, which has spun off a series of unintended consequences. First, by trying to do everything all it once, the bill does nothing well. The money spent on long-term domestic programs means there may not be enough to jolt the economy now (about $290 billion in spending is pushed off into 2011 and later). The money spent on stimulus, meanwhile, means there’s not enough to truly reform domestic programs like health technology, schools and infrastructure. The measure mostly pumps more money into old arrangements.