More Stimulus Needed: Gift Cards for All?

Just over a year ago, MarketWatch's Chief Economist Irwin Kellner recommended that the federal government distribute $3,000 gift cards to every citizen over age 16 to stimulate the economy.

Many people thought the idea was crazy at best, and it's easy to see why. Distributing $3,000 gift cards to all U.S. citizens age 16 and over would have cost $705 billion, and there certainly would have been a chorus of opposition, with critics attacking it as a costly and wasteful welfare program.