Our Sputtering Economy, by the Numbers

by Braden Goyette
ProPublica, Aug. 2, 2011, 2:08 p.m.

With increasing signs that the economy is laboring, most economists agree that a short-term infusion of spending, or an extension of this year's temporary cut in Social Security taxes, could help fend off a new downturn.

But whatever one thinks of the debt deal—and most of its billions in cuts won't come for a few years—there's a near-consensus in Washington against spending increases.