there seems to be this weird sense, at least among the beltway brahman, that the u.s.' current economic woes are caused by deficit spending. that's what president obama seems to be cravenly caving in to right now.
which means we're just going to repeat the same mistake that made the great depression so great. i'm not really sure where this idea comes from. and by caving into it, all it does is reinforce an economic theory that was discredited almost 80 years ago. there's no actual political benefit to doing it, nor is there likely to be any economic benefit either. so why does the idea have any appeal at all?
ADDING: and see what brad delong wrote. i don't see how the fact that it is a fake plan to tackle the deficit makes it any better.
