Despite all the rhetoric, I don't see how government can ever do anything to help the economy except by simply getting out of the way.
Government does have a few legitimate roles with respect to the economy...
a.) Contract enforcement and the protection of property rights
b.) Preventing fraud
c.) Compensating for market failures (externalities)
Beyond that Government is just an inhibitor of real economic growth and a parasite on the productive sectors of the economy.
c) is a wedge that lets nearly anything through. "Market failure", at least as a political evaluation, is entirely subjective. What some people see as a market failure might be, from another perspective, the market working exactly as it should (pruning failed businesses and unviable strategies).