Less than 6 months after it's passing ... what % would you EXPECT to be spent? If the % was higher, you'd just be bitching about how they hadn't put any controls on the programs and were inviting abuse.

The banks who are the beneficiaries of Fed actions have all but stopped lending and are jacking every fee imaginable on their customers. Liquidity thus far had provided a conduit for absurd earning statements and executive bonuses considering (as you point out) the state of the real economy.

I'm not saying they aren't promoting consumerism as we once knew it, but they aren't calling it Obama's Stimulus Package yet either. I think they would prefer we credit Bush and his transparent trillion-dollar dump in his waning days in office. I think that is what middleclassbill, might be suggesting too.

But that will only show up as credit extended by those banks, not as spendable cash in the local markets.

Media is a loss-leader in the stock portfolios of billionaires. They use it as an ad space to sell their other stocks, but the media is no longer a for-profit venture. It is an appendage to much bigger money machines, that have also financed our government via campaign contributions and free media.

"Look" magazine was a good example. It was axed in the 70's, despite reliable and growing profits, because those profits just weren't big enough. When the political influence of media became more important than the profit of media, to bigger money, the 4th Estate essentially collapsed.

Whether they make any profit is secondary to whether they create a public groupthink that promotes the whole portfolio, of which media is the least profitable, and healthcare and pharmaceuticals are some of the most profitable.

So do you trust the media? They may promote a positive attitude towards public consumption , but not towards the public option. So they are not likely to attribute any positive developments to Obama, with a few exceptions (MSNBC) who work for media that still strives for profitability, if not journalistic integrity.

Fortunately, in that case particularly, they have had to stomach some good journalism on the way to profitability, but even their parent company is diversified far beyond that pittance mattering.

Until someone or some group with a conscience literally buys out a major cable channel or one of the old Big Three broadcast channels, I don;t see them promoting anything but Wall Street, and Wal Mart, certainly not Main Street.

That's why the only way to get that cash to the ppublic is either through infrastructure repair or credit.

Why not wages? Obama's infrastructure jobs provide some of it, but if you want some of that Bushfed money, you'll have to borrow it from those banks.

Am I rambling? Or does that all explain why I do not expect the MSM to credit the Obama stimulus package with success, even as they tout a better economy.