It’s very easy to cherry pick the historical and economic record to prove your argument. (This site does it all the time!) However, in 2008 and 2009, when the economy seemed to be teetering on collapse, the stimulus plans were the best way to tell the world that the US was going to do everything in its power to stablize the markets. It may not have stimulated actual wealth, but it stimulated confidence–and at the time, that seemed a little more important.