Planet Money: Obama Tests Keynes on U.S.

President Barack Obama says that only government can pull America out of a recession this severe. Obama calls his plan for stimulus spending of well more than $800 million a new idea, but Adam Davidson and Alex Blumberg say this kind of public spending relies on an old theory. John Maynard Keynes wrote it up in 1936 — and this recession marks its first real-world test.

Plus: Questioning the economics of the Super Bowl, people ditching furniture on Craigslist, and naming the economic crisis.