I'll jump in on this one.
The President's Jobs Bill would do EXACTLY what you are suggesting, but it is another political football. Creating jobs REQUIRES investment. The manufacturing and business community would deserve their Republican title of 'job creators' if they would invest some of the TRILLIONS they are sitting on. OK, it's a free country and they say they can't invest because they are "afraid".
So the only other alternative is government stimulus. I know you just choked, but remember what you've always known was pure common sense: It Takes Money To Make Money. Once a strong stimulus targeted at reconstruction of our nation's infrastructure creates new jobs and those employees pump all their earnings back into the economy, businesses will see a demand spike and lose their fear of investing. A couple of years of this will finally make the recession history and finally help the housing market turn around. We will temporarily have a larger deficit, but we will finally be able to move toward a balanced budget and even deficit reduction. Of course, that depends on finally withdrawing from Afghanistan and creating a leaner, futuristic Defense Department, as well as some other cuts and a revised tax code previously mentioned here so many, many, many times