Senator Clinton has taken economists to task for our universal opposition to a gas tax holiday. Both theory and evidence tell us that suspending the tax temporarily would provide little relief to consumers while further enriching big oil.

With unusual speed, the IRS sent out the first tranche of $100 billion in recovery rebates last Monday. It took Congress and the President less than a month to enact the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 and then just 62 days for the IRS to begin getting the money into people's hands. The question now is what will they do with the windfall, which for couples will be as much as $1,200 plus $300 per child. The answer may disappoint those who are hoping a new burst of consumer spending will give the lagging economy a needed boost.