Propping back up financial institutions, slapping the hands go greedy corp types through disincentives like these, or adding a few more months of solvency to automakers that have been failing for a decade (or more), won't give Joe or Jane American back a lost job, or make Sue and Sam American that are working but now very cautiously spending start to spend more.
These things won't fix the root cause. The root cause is, once again, panic and hysteria. I've heard a lot about job losses, and there but for the grace of God go I, but more than anything I think people are spending less, not because credit isn't there, and not because they have lost or job, but simply because they are scared....and maybe for good reason.
Our time as a nation of "spend more than you make" seems to be coming to an end. It was a long, prosperous run that fueled a global economy, but the failures on Wall Street, and the credit crisis have acted as wake-up calls for individuals that that lifestyle is probably not wise, and actually is a form of enslavement.
TJR