Steve's barking at stimulus packages that aren't talked about.

I just happened to catch Steve Forbes the other day on what is loosely called a business channel.
(I'm personally trying to figure out if he's a self made idiot or was he just plain born stupid).
He made a comment that  government stimulus packages never work ( private enterprise is what gets us out of down turns in the economy).
He sited the New Deal, then stated that World War II got us out of the depression.
World War II just so happened to be a government stimulus package, even thought we don't like to treat it as such.
President Eisenhower spent money to build highways for defense, This was a stimulus package that no one states.
Even the sainted Ronald Reagan  increased defense spending and reduced taxes to the rich, another stimulus package?
What are these facts telling me? You have to be war like to really stimulate the economy.
Not putting enough money into the stimulus is like having a botched abortion.