We have the Obama stimulus plan, which aims to create 3 ½ million jobs by late next year. Thatâ??s much better than nothing, but itâ??s not remotely enough. And there doesnâ??t seem to be much else going on. Do you remember the administrationâ??s plan to sharply reduce the rate of foreclosures, or its plan to get the banks lending again by taking toxic assets off their balance sheets? Neither do I.

All of this is depressingly familiar to anyone who has studied economic policy in the 1930s. Once again a Democratic president has pushed through job-creation policies that will mitigate the slump but arenâ??t aggressive enough to produce a full recovery. Once again much of the stimulus at the federal level is being undone by budget retrenchment at the state and local level.

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