[Solecismic]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

Are you talking generally, or in the context of responding to a recession?

Here's what happens when you practice austerity in response to a recession: Financial Times | Error | Akamai Error

What we're trying to avoid is Japan-style over-spending. Yes, they make it through, but it's very painful. Austerity isn't the recommendation here - I think that's a loaded word that in modern times means less government increase than projected rather than a real cutback.

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

And, as in the past, this will likely coincide with a recovering economy and, critically, recovering tax revenues, which will reverse the "problem" of "spending more than you take in".

Reasonable economists understand this is a balancing act, and managing economies in this manner requires work.

Question being what is the balance point. Reasonable is also a loaded word in this context. Deficit hawks would argue that we are so far beyond the balancing point that extreme cuts are necessary.

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

You get some of these mythical people into power and maybe we'll have a conversation. For now your choices are the insanity that currently passes for fiscal policy in the GOP vs. an administration that's overseen a recovery from recession, unemployment dropping from 10% to 7%, and a halving of the deficit, all without runaway inflation.

Edit: The link works, it's just giving the forum software a hard time.

Some would say insanity passes for fiscal policy in the administration. Some would say that unemployment rose because of this policy, and continues to rise because more people are becoming dependent on government for everything, and have left the work force entirely. Some would say not only that, but the new jobs being created are either public sector or very low-paying. And some would say the runaway inflation is inevitable as soon as the fed is directed to stop holding interest rates at an unsustainable level.

Finally, when you say "maybe we'll have a conversation", that's adding an emotion that shuts down substantive discussion. Obviously, we have very different views on economic policy. It's frustrating to me that you post charts that ignore a large portion of the debt. We're in a great period for adding debt because we're still in the post-9/11 phase of our history, people will still lend us money (especially China) and politicians on both sides are fundamentally cowards when it comes to cutting off the spigot. But it's not a budget cut when it amounts to reducing the expected increase in something.