Do You Believe?

Bluematter says rational agents shouldn't be struggling right now:

If you believe in Ricardian equivalence, you don't believe in recessions: The same rational, non-credit constrained individual that will save a tax rebate in anticipation of higher taxes in the future is the same rational, non-credit constrained individual that will save something extra in the good times so he can maintain his consumption level unchanged during recessions - as much a certainty in life as death and taxes.

If you believe that fiscal stimuli are pointless, then you don't believe in recessions as we know them.