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A proposal from economist Alan Blinder (NYTimes):

Economists and members of Congress are now on the prowl for new ways to stimulate spending in our dreary economy. Here's my humble suggestion: "Cash for Clunkers," the best stimulus idea you’ve never heard of.

Cash for Clunkers is a generic name for a variety of programs under which the government buys up some of the oldest, most polluting vehicles and scraps them. If done successfully, it holds the promise of performing a remarkable public policy trifecta — stimulating the economy, improving the environment and reducing income inequality all at the same time.

Digby:

So McCain has gone from a heroic prisoner of war who survived to tell the tale to someone who "knows how to win wars." But then, why not? Bush was hailed as the second coming of Winston Churchill because he made a speech that included the word "axis" in it, so why not?

McCain is getting crispy. He attacked Obama in a really ugly way by saying that he's willing to "lose a war to win an election" and now he's telling everyone he knows how to win them. This is delusional. Codpiece delusional. McCain has never "won" a war.

This is what Wes Clark was talking about and why they staged a full-on fainting party. McCain is running as a military leader — but he isn't one. He's a politician who was in a war as a young man and was captured by the enemy. It was heroic service, but it wasn't leadership. And yet the myth of military leadership is the foundation of his claim to the presidency.

Columnist Robyn Blumner:

If you want to give a name to the coming era in American politics, you could call it the Return of Government.

I think of the years between the time that John F. Kennedy told us to ask what we can do for our country and the aftermath of 9/11 when President Bush told us all to go shopping as modern historical bookends of sorts. Kennedy arrived at about the apex of people's faith in the power of the state to make lives better. Bush arrived at its nadir. [...]

There was a time when government was expected to act in furtherance of the common good and was given the benefit of the doubt when sacrifice was called for. That time is coming back. It's the only viable option there is.