Today's stimulus reading (Updated)

Why should you read these? Because we may very well be on the brink of a depression and we need to get the stimulus right if we're to prevent it or at least mitigate it and that means understanding the issue both politically and economically. Thankfully, smart people who can write real well help: 

• Paul Krugman explains how Centrist Democrats and Republicans are sabotaging the stimulus.
  
• Ambinder seeks to get the Administration's definition of a depression.
  
• Gallup shows that Obama (and to a lesser extent Congressional Dems) are beating the GOP in the court of public opinion on the stimulus.
  
• And noted economist Dean Baker sums the matter up nicely: "Trying to save money on a stimulus is like finding a short cut for your jogging route. We can do it, but it undermines the whole point of the effort. " (h/t Ben Smith)
• Update: And as the Stimulus heads into Conference between House and Senate here's proof positive by Anglo-American economist Will Straw of the dangers of a centrist approach, namely the loss of at least 430,000 job opportunities by shifting from the liberal House bill to the centrists Senate bill.