Our government is unwilling to cut spending as witnessed by the latest budget bill debacle.
Past administrations weren't willing to cut spending. Cutting govt spending today makes zero economic sense. You cannot cut your way to prosperity. Jobs are the only thing that will get the economy growing again and they are a necessity to cutting the deficits.
This was part of the policy after the financial crisis but once the stimulus money runs out so do the jobs. Making work for the sake of controlling the unemployment numbers only drives us further into debt without lasting economic stability.
The vast majority of infrastructure projects were never implemented as states throughout the country turned them done. The U.S. needs new infrastructure throughout the country, this isn't wasted spending this is necessity (rebuilding bridges, fixing the grids, etc.). Also, this spending will turn into lasting economic growth as long as you employ a good portion of the currently unemployed for long periods at a time (18-24+ months). This drives growth and consumer demand which drives corporate hiring, pushes baby boomers into retirement allowing for more job growth and new job opportunities. Once the new infrastructure is in place, we can shift these jobs from infrastructure back into private sector jobs (manufacturing, home construction, etc.).
I'm of the opinion that we never came out of the recession caused by the financial crisis. The two trillion dollars of stimulus money used to control the markets has burnt off just like gasoline on a pile of wet firewood. Let the market adjust for decades of fiscal irresponsibility by our government and citizens alike.
We haven't come out of the recession (Real GDP today is still below the peak) and thus we need the govt to continue to spend to help get this economy going again. The key is spending must be targeted at areas of necessity and must employ a large amount of the unemployed for long periods at a time (18-24+ months).
The largest piece of the stimulus was tax cuts $850B (which will be repaid with higher tax rates in the future), TARP's $700B (was a necessity and has largely gotten repaid), $1T on other including $151B for Fannie and Freddie bailouts, $165B for unemployment insurance/COBRA relief (which was and is needed), and $250B on public works projects (definitely needed and much more should be done).