The stimulus is clearly not the answer. This is Annie Lowrie at the New York Times:
Since the recession ended in 2009, income gains have accrued almost entirely to the top earners, the Census Bureau found. The top 5 percent of earners — households making more than about $191,000 a year — have recovered their losses and earned about as much in 2012 as they did before the recession. But those in the bottom 80 percent of the income distribution are generally making considerably less than they had been, hit by high rates of unemployment and nonexistent wage growth. ...
The proportion of Americans living in poverty has either increased or held steady for 11 of the last 12 years.
