Obama Says it Plainly

Today in his remarks, President Obama stated the obvious regarding government spending:

You see, when this recession began, many families sat around their kitchen table and tried to figure out where they could cut back. So do many businesses. That is a completely responsible and understandable reaction. But if every family in America cuts back, then no one is spending any money, which means there are more layoffs, and the economy gets even worse. That’s why the government has to step in and temporarily boost spending in order to stimulate demand. And that’s exactly what we’re doing right now.

This is important to say and it combats the idiotic meme out there that the Federal deficits got us into this financial crisis. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’re lucky.  Troll any right-wing blog and you’re bound to see three or four idiots saying garbage like “You can’t spend your way out of debt!”

Technically they’re correct.  And long-term deficits are a concern that the right-wing typically has whenever the Democratic Party controls the Federal Government.  However, right now it appears that boosting demand through additional spending is the right course of action.   The course of action favored by the conservatives, namely cutting spending back, would only make things worse because, right now, the Federal Government needs to boost demand through spending.

To see this neurosis fully on display, go to the opinion section of AZCentral.Com/ArizonaRepublic  you’ll see all manner of idiots espousing this philosophy.  Some dude named TaxWatcher is the worst.