I Wonder What Has Changed

Nobel prize-winning economist Gary Becker notes that President Obama's economc team projects that unemployment will top out at 9 percent without his economic stimulus spending.

In the 1981-92 recession, unemployment topped out at 10.5 percent. But there was no groundswell among economists for a stimulus spending that would cause massive, massive deficits.

What is so different about the present recession compared to that one, and to other recessions since then, that would greatly raise the estimated stimulating effects of government spending on various types of goods and services?

Hmm. What is different between 1981 and 2005?