G-20 Stimulus Comparison

The Brookings Institution recently published a comparison of the stimulus packages of the G-20 countries in anticipation of the upcoming London G-20 Summit. The authors of the report play it neutral without comment on the pros and cons of the various stimulus packages, though they do take special note that the US and China will have the two largest stimulus packages in 2009 and 2010. The aggregator that I found the link from, The Browser, provocatively points this out:

Only China and US are doing anything like enough.

Free exchange at the Economist runs with this idea in a couple of posts today. In one post the blogger calls on Europe for some more stimulation:

As much as America is at fault in the crisis, and as popular as America bashing may be, there is no question that its financial assistance has helped sustain the global economy, and that its stimulus is generous by international standards (the moreso given America's role as global consumer). It's time for Europe to shoulder its share of the responsibility in ending this downturn.

In the other, the blogger provides links to IMF data which shows that GDP multipliers from fiscal expansion are greatest in the US and Japan when there is global fiscal expansion. Presumably, the more governments that are spending the greater the effect will be for all governments that seek a multiplier on their investment reflected in their GDP. More detail can be found in the IMF report.

Something about fiscal expansion unnerves me. Not as much as TARP, though. At least stimulus spending can be directed towards projects that can directly benefit a larger cross-section of the population. Why can't we just let the FDIC do its thing?