Can government turn the economy around?

In an election year, 'stimulus' proposals are popular — but will they work?

With economic forecasts calling for bad weather ahead, Congress and the White House have turned attention to proposals to offer Americans some shelter from the storm.

There’s no shortage of ideas in an election year. But it remains to be seen just how much the government can do to halt the continued slide in an economy battered by falling housing prices, rising energy costs and a lending slowdown caused by worries about how many more loans will go bad.

There’s little doubt the U.S. economy is slowing sharply. Economists are divided on whether the U.S. is headed for recession or already in one. But in just the past few weeks, the latest economic data have gotten worse.

The debate over a potential stiumuls package centers on what measures — if any — will have an impact.

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