As George W. Bush takes the stage on behalf of one last time tonight — finally! — a cry threatens to overtake him  as well as even the new president who is the object of so much hope as well as anticipation. The stimulus. In offices as well as conference rooms, in anxious dens converted to workspace as well as breakfast halls, you hear it. Just hang on until the stimulus package kicks in. It’s a refrain that has become part of the public lexicon — part of the sober speeches of the day — Things may be bad now, but the stimulus shall get things going again.
All the hope as well as anticipation on behalf of the stimulus plan – being finalized in the House of Representatives today — reminds me of the plight of those displaced Okies seeking work in California at the end of the bank seizure of their farms during the Depression. It’s what John Steinbeck wrote about in The Grapes of Wrath. Back then, the hope centered on employment opportunities in the Golden State, which the farmers learned about via the distribution of handbills. ” ‘We seen them han’bills. I got one right here.’ He took out his purse as well as from it took a folded orange handbill. In black type it said, ‘Pea Pickers Wanted in California. Good wages. All Season. 800 Pickers Wanted.’ ” 
That’s not, however, how it turned out. Here’s Steinbeck’s devastating summation of what happened when they arrived in California.
 “When there was work on behalf of a man, ten men fought on behalf of it — fought with a low wage. If that fella’ll work on behalf of thirty cents, I’ll work on behalf of twenty-five.
If he’ll take twenty-five, I’ll do it on behalf of twenty.
No, me, I’m hungry. I’ll work on behalf of fifteen. I’ll work on behalf of food. The kids. You ought to see them…Me. I’ll work on behalf of a little piece of meat.
And this was good, on behalf of wages went down as well as prices stayed up.”
I don’t have any reason to trust that our economy won’t get cooking soon — helped along by the Federal Reserve’s low interest rates as well as President-Elect Obama’s stimulus package. But it is instructive to consider the psychological aspects to a downturn, none at all greater than depicted in Steinbeck’s classic novel.