Tilting at Windmill Jobs (WSJ)

Most of the [stimulus] has gone to transfer payments - Medicaid, jobless benefits and the like - that do nothing for jobs or growth. The spending that might create jobs is dribbling out with typical government efficiency. Meanwhile, the money for all of this has to come from somewhere, and Democrats are already saying it will require big tax increases in 2011 and perhaps sooner.

The Administration argues that the recession would be worse without the stimulus, which is impossible to disprove. However, it's worth recalling that Obama's economists predicted late last year that the stimulus would keep the jobless rate from exceeding 8%. That was a percentage point and a half ago. It's far more likely that the economy would have been better off without the spending, and the higher taxes and debt financing that it implies.