Small brain questions?

1.  If a trillion dollar stimulus didn’t work because it was “too small, too gutless, too wimpish” (according to guys like Paul Krugman) what would it take to stimulate the economy?  $10 trillion?  A quadrillion?  A google?

2.  If stimulus works to cure an economy of any downturn, why don’t we have stimulus all the time, whenever any region or state has a little downturn?  Why isn’t everyone guaranteed to be bailed out if their business goes bad?  Wouldn’t that encourage business activity?  Why should anyone be allowed to fail if bankruptcy and failure is bad for consumption?

3.  If AAA ratings mean something, why were they given to Enron, to CDOs, to RBMS, to govts that subsequently blew up?

4.  When should the stimulus experiment stop?  Should it keep going forever if it doesn’t work?  What would cause you to say “This experiment in govt-stimulation has failed to stimulate.  Let’s stop it before it does any more damage.”?