Will the stimulus work?

New York University economics professor Thomas Sargent:

The calculations that I have seen supporting the stimulus package are back-of-the-envelope ones that ignore what we have learned in the last 60 years of macroeconomic research.

Back of the envelope worked for Lincoln on his way to Gettysburg (Bob Newhart told us so), but for us in this day? 

Consider David Axelrod’s reaction, per WSJ.com’s Political Diary, to being asked about whether it will work:

Mr. Axelrod told Fox News that he didn’t view the CBO [Congressional Budget Office] [pessimistic] findings as important. He said the government has no choice but to act quickly in the current “national emergency” and “that a lot of these investments are ones that are going to pay dividends in the short term and the long term.”

This way lies madness.  Act quickly doing what?  Does it matter?  Of course.  So where does A-rod come off dismissing these economist hotshots hired by Congress and led by a Dem appointee?  Hack.