OK, so don't take it from me, take it from Bob Pittman

He may not, as he says have a horse in this race, but I do.

Bob Pittman is, according to Fortune, and also "is a co-founder of the Pilot Group investment firm, the former CEO of MTV Networks, AOL Networks, Six Flags Theme Parks, Time Warner Enterprises and Century 21 Real Estate, as well as the former chief operating officer of America Online and AOL Time Warner."

Full disclosure (as if you need it): As an ad agency we stand to earn money on ad spending. That doesn't alter the fact that this guy makes a lot of sense when he says:

"The government's stimulus plan won't work as planned if we don't get consumers spending again. But in the nearly $800 billion package, there is one thing missing that would surely help accomplish this: advertising. To get people spending again, and the economy moving, the government needs to provide help for businesses in America to advertise their products and services."

This was taken from an article in Fortune that I found via the American Advertising Federation Smart Brief. I think it makes a hell of a lot of sense. Read it for yourself here, but I especially like this part: "It's a mistake to think of advertising merely as a cost -- it's an investment, and like all investments it can have a wide-reaching impact."

No kidding.