I particularly enjoy this economist's periodic, easy reading, glimpses into the economy.

Follow this link to the complete document:
http://www.strom.clemson.edu/teams/ced/esr/ESR_2010_09.pdf

Conversation about the economy in Washington and across the
country contains two elements: Is the stimulus working? And whether
working or not, how will we pay for it? Speaking to the first part of the question
has pitted economists and others who doubt the power of
government spending to have any meaningful long-term effect on
the economy against other economists and policy makers who
believe just the reverse. No one really doubts that spending $800
billion additional taxpayer-funded dollars on projects will have
short-run impact. That much money just can’t be spent without
generating real action. What is questioned is whether or not such
spending will have a longer-run sustainable impact, and if the
resources so diverted might have had an even larger impact if left
undisturbed. [More]