If it's perfection you seek, you'll live a life of perpetual unhappiness. All of us and all of our systems are imperfect.
In general I'm not a fan of governments handing out free money. But if consumer spending is 70% of the economy and the economy is cratering, you need to do something that will jump start spending. Addressing concerns about fraud isn't that hard. Each card can come with a 4 digit pin that's the last 4 numbers in your Social Insurance Number (or whatever you call it in the US). Makes it tough for anyone to use your card. You can have the two week spending period start at the time of the first purchase, with an overall expiry date for the card of 1 or 2 months.
The economic goal is hardly dubious. It's very simple. Get people spending money. It puts people to work. It increases the velocity of money.
So back to Gladwell. There are no perfect solutions. This proposal isn't perfect, but it's better than anything else I've heard and it's better than doing nothing or waiting for the perfect solution (which isn't coming).