Jared Bernstein on Fiscal Stimulus (Even Now)

...even a large spending measure, as long as it’s temporary, expands the deficit only for a few years, and then becomes a very small factor. While it raises the level of the debt, once it’s over, it does not contribute to its growth.

Compare those results with the Bush tax cuts, which look much more like permanent programs that continuously boost both annual deficits and the growth of the debt.

There are simply no good fiscal reasons not to implement measures that will boost paychecks, help the unemployed, and get folks back to work fixing up our infrastructure. By dint of being temporary, they have little impact on the growth of the debt, and by increasing economic activity, jobs, spending and investment, they lead to faster growth than would otherwise occur.[link]