The gov is basically borrowing money to get out of debt and putting lipstick on lots of pigs (banks). In the short term, it fees up credit and makes for the appearance of a recovery, but we are still in deep doo-doo so the second hammer must fall eventually.
Also, it seems that the housing crash was really a bubble pop based on inflated asset prices. The effects of this have hit employment, but it seems the effects of reduced employment haven’t hit the economy yet.
The slowness with which economies move is always amazing to me.