Stimulus or bust

I don't understand whatsoever how the recently signed stimulus plan is the best plan of action. The idea is to pump money into the economy and increase consumer spending, as well as investing. However, our government has taken it upon themselves to create a wealth of jobs, and send money to hurting companies and industries, spending close to $300,000 per job created in doing so. Does this make sense? I don't claim to be an economist or have the knowledge that those in power do, but the facts I see don't add up. The Republican party proposed that there be no income tax for any American for 6 months, which would generally give back a comparable amount of money gained from the lack of taxation on income. This would undoubtedly create more spending as people feel wealthier from the more money in each paycheck. However, our government thought it was necessary to create $787 billion and hope that it trickles down to the consumers and ultimately save the economy. Really? The DJI is plummeting, now below 7500, and creating more and more money is supposed to fix the problem? Like I said, I'm not an economist. Hopefully our savior Barack comes through on this one.