Lowering Expectations

Obama now says that if the government doesn't do anything, the current slump will last for several years. Saying that now of course provides him with a higher probability of perceived success by, as a continued slump would be interpreted as at least not having made things worse, while some form of recovery would be credited to him.

In reality, government intervention will ensure that the problems continue. While the "stimulus package" combined with higher doses of inflation might provide a recovery in at least official statistics, any such hypothetical recovery will likely be short-lived, and followed by more slumps, similar to the pattern of short-lived recoveries in Japan in the 1990s.

The way to provide a really lasting recovery would be to follow the more non-interventionist path of Warren Harding during the deep but very short-lived 1920-21 slump, as described by for example Jim Powell here.