If giving unemployed people money to spend in to an economy is good, wouldn't it be equally good if we just handed out money to children as well? That would really increase demand.

Recessions are a necessary evil at times. By papering over an economy's problems, it only makes the inevitable bust worse.

I never understood how people think deflation is a bad thing. How does paying less money for goods and services hurt people? When prices fall, demand increases. Conversely, when prices rise, demand decreases. That's why people get excited when they see a deal like 50% off. No one would buy more products from a store that was advertising a "sale" like "pay 300% more, but only till Tuesday." Big screen tvs, cellphones and computers used to cost thousands of dollars and only the rich could afford them. Now consumer electronics are cheap and even the poor can afford these things today. Demand would drastically fall for electronics if those goods were as expensive as they once were.

Another issue I've always had with Keynesian economics is the claim that a weak currency is good. Keynesians claim that a weak currency is good because it increases demand for exports (ie, it makes goods cheaper for consumers in other countries). Well, why is it a good thing for foreigners to be able to consume our goods cheaply and a bad thing if the domestic population is able to consume our goods cheaply? So low prices are good for foreigners but bad for domestic populations? Remember, the cheaper goods and services are the more demand there will be for them. Last I checked, America has a population of about 315,000,000 people, there's plenty of potential demand there. Just like the myth the Chinese need America to consume their products or they'd lose their jobs. No, the Yuan would strengthen and instead of the Chinese sending their goods to broke Americans, the Chinese would sell their products at lower prices to their domestic population with their newly strengthened currency, which would increase demand.