Independent "The U.S. has experienced six significant economic depressions; each was preceded by a sustained period of budget balancing."~ Professor Fredrick ThayerFrom 1823-36 the U.S. debt was reduced by 99.7 percent, to $38,000. A depression began in 1837. Under great pressure from Republicans, FDR balanced the budget in 1936. The Great Depression came roaring back in 1937. WWII, a huge government spending and employment program, if you will, got us out of our dire economic problems. Our macroeconomic thinking is often haywire: We think the federal budget is like our household's or a state government's. It isn't. Here's Thayer again: "The tragicomedy of economics is easily displayed: If someone borrows money to build a brewery, the money is officially listed as 'investment' in national income accounts. If government spends money to build a bridge that is needed by the brewery, these funds are not listed as investment because the bridge is considered 'waste.' To think that this fallacious logic undergirds public policy is to experience pure fright." Government spending needs to be done judiciously, not thoughtlessly, like investing in bridges to nowhere. If there's a valid need for something, and businesses don't want to take the risk, government should step in and make it happen as it did with the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Manhattan Project, and our space program. Government and business working together is the path taken by wealthy nations.

Independent "The U.S. has experienced six significant economic depressions; each was preceded by a sustained period of budget balancing."~ Professor Fredrick ThayerFrom 1823-36 the U.S. debt was reduced by 99.7 percent, to $38,000. A depression began in 1837. Under great pressure from Republicans, FDR balanced the budget in 1936. The Great Depression came roaring back in 1937. WWII, a huge government spending and employment program, if you will, got us out of our dire economic problems. Our macroeconomic thinking is often haywire: We think the federal budget is like our household's or a state government's. It isn't. Here's Thayer again: "The tragicomedy of economics is easily displayed: If someone borrows money to build a brewery, the money is officially listed as 'investment' in national income accounts. If government spends money to build a bridge that is needed by the brewery, these funds are not listed as investment because the bridge is considered 'waste.' To think that this fallacious logic undergirds public policy is to experience pure fright." Government spending needs to be done judiciously, not thoughtlessly, like investing in bridges to nowhere. If there's a valid need for something, and businesses don't want to take the risk, government should step in and make it happen as it did with the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Manhattan Project, and our space program. Government and business working together is the path taken by wealthy nations.

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