[lisp_padawan]

ah yes, I see what you mean, didn't fully think it through did I? - I was kind of hoping that all those suddenly free programmer hours would be funnelled into creative programming and start-up ventures, boosting the economy sans government spending...

[Xichekolas]

Another interesting example of the those who view job retention as the means to economic stimulus versus those who view job creation as the prefered means to that end.

I tend to agree with you. Funding make-work projects benefit the workers involved (and tangentially the businesses they buy from), but innovating and spawning whole new companies/industries seems like a better use of our time and effort.