Remember that every dollar the government puts into the economy was first taken out of the economy, and most of the money government takes is wasted in bureaucratic make-work jobs or in making stuff to waste in war. The ENTIRE economy is consumer spending, and all government actions are friction that slows the machine. It's just another version of the Broken Window Fallacy.

Want to fix the economy? End all "Intellectual Property" laws and other barriers to entry in the market. Petition to end all government bailouts and subsidies so the inefficient and corrupt are weeded out of the economy. Shut down the military-industrial complex, since making stuff just to be destroyed or to destroy other peoples' stuff is wasteful. Cut taxes across the board (preferably to zero) and let people choose where to use their own money to boost their local economies instantly while also immediately reducing the cost of doing business here in the US to bring back jobs.

Do you really want rationality in this discussion? Start by ending the institutionalized coercion and let people be free.

Mr Reich is again a voice of reason in a wilderness of political sturm und drang. I thought Colbert had a great take on this as well, and here I must paraphrase: ... FDR couldn't end the great depression by huge government spending..... that had to wait for huge government spending. The point: If the navel gazers on Wall St. cannot see fit to invest in this nation, the government MUST, deficits be damned. In fact, if the hedge fund turds that presume themselves to be god's anointed messengers on earth see America as a bad investment, what do we need them for at all? If I thought there was anyone in Congress was anything other than part of the 1% themselves, (Bernie Sanders excepted) I would be all for simply nationalizing their whole operation, confiscating their bank accounts AND their G-Vs, turning their homes into public parks and put the turds to work blowing leaves in what used to be their own driveway. But that would be too much to ask, right now. I am still wondering what it is that conservatives are trying to conserve, The gilded age?

You can either live in a society that condones the bribery of public officials or you can live in a representative democracy. The one will always preclude the other.

They are all insane in the Republican/Libertarian parties. Truly it takes real jobs for the system to work. It also needs a tax base that contributes from the working class. While the elites try to outsmart everyone, they are only creating austerity for the American public, and they fully know it can't work. It is truly a short term goal and it is simply stupid. The loss of conscience of the elites is the reality. Either that or they are plumb stupid.

But truly the first thing that has to be done is to make sure in the 2012 election is make this the real debate as the main centerpiece if discussion. I can't underestimate the Republicans and what they have up their sleeves, because inequality is the basis of the predatory, capitalistic way for them. What we have to recognize has to be transferred over for the American public as real fact of our economic demise. That is, if we dismiss fact we will have the wrong people in office that will continue to keep this horrible system that will continue to initiate austerity to the American working class.

ROBERT...SEND THIS MESSAGE TO WALL STREET !

Let’s wake up America!

The 1% of Piratical Capitalists are strangling the other 99% of Americans and the rest of the world to death!

I’m sick and tired of the Democrats, the Republicans, the tea party, and the news media!
I’m sick and tired of listening to incessant political nonsense while we the people, are losing everything!

Are we supposed to remain passive while we lose our jobs, our homes, our families, our health, our savings, our future, and our lives!? Are we…really!?!?! Do you people out there want to let this happen!?

Are we just supposed to lie down and die?! Sure, the elite rich would love that wouldn’t they? If we’re dead, then we can’t cause any trouble. If we’re dead, then we can’t come after them!

We’ve been blind and passive way too long. We keep dancing around the real solution here, while the rich pay off our politicians and the courts to stay free and so they can repeatedly rape us!

No-way, it’s time we put a stop to this! They need a lesson here. Unfortunately, the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Russian Revolution were necessary because the royals and elite rich just never did get it. They didn’t care that millions of people were being hurt or dying because of them.

We have that same exact international situation right here…right now. We’re not dead yet, and there are millions and millions of us around the world. And that, is POWER!

People, we are in the midst of a Global Revolution! It’s happening now and it’s time we pulled these arrogant royals off of their thrones.

Yes people...
IT'S TIME THIS GOT UGLY!

This is why.

THE NEW AMERICAN PIRATES, ARE KILLING AMERICANS.

This is not about glamorized or fictional piracy. This is, “real piracy.”

Hundreds of our wealthiest leaders and most powerful corporations know that in the next few years, they will be able to siphon, skim, and steal, so much “NEW CASH,” that they and their progeny will be ultra-rich for generations to come.

Welcome to the modern “Piratical Capitalism” movement. And, welcome to WAR!
No, this is not funny, or fiction, or a conspiracy, it is just simple greed and simple theft.
The new pirates of America have launched an all-out siege on us…the 99%, in order to capture, amass, and hold many trillions of dollars for themselves.

All of the recent political power grabs and nonsensical debating is purely a slight-of-hand deflection. President Obama, Democrats, Republicans, the International Press, and even the Tea Party, are watching the tiny pea in the shell game…while the rich and powerful “Piratical Right” is stealing America right out from under us.

Consider that their combined total plunder from corporate flipping, downsizing, offshore labor, speculation, price fixing of oil and energy plus, corruption in defense, health care, banking, student loans, foreclosures, etc., etc., is a trillion dollar treasure for these pirates.
Go ahead, put your own calculator to it.

Are they smarter than we are? Yes, and they are laughing at us. I, we, you, and all of us, have not been able see the big picture of what is happening to our own country and to our own people. The rape and theft of America, has been cleverly packaged, promoted, and sold under the guise of “cost-cutting,” “deregulation,” and “free enterprise.”

The “Piratical Right” is directly responsible for millions of people dying, getting sick, losing their jobs and homes, losing their ability to fight, their spirit, and even losing their will to live. The sick smell of this carnage now permeates the air across America.

To us, this is all unimaginable, because we look for some sense or the morality of things. These modern-day American pirates however, have no moral compass. They are devoid of any conscience, humanity or soul, and are feeding on the flesh of the American people.

Don’t look to the President, the Senate, Congress, the press, or any political party to help. Sadly, they just don’t see it, don’t care, or are part of it. “We the people” are on our own. Start asking questions. Demand answers. If we don’t fight back America…who will!?

History has taught us how to stop piracy!

There is a second way in which austerity is a death trap. By cutting science, you cut off the prospect of future economic development based on innovation. By cutting education, you have a less-qualified, less productive, pool of workers. By delaying medical care, you have a population that is sicker, and more expensive to care for. Similar examples can be found everywher--failure to repair a bridge on time, failure to build a modern transportation network... Failure to provide now for future needs leads to an underdeveloped nation. Right now, America is underdeveloping itself, and the European countries falling into the austerity trap are not far behind.

Robert you need to form and lead a strong progrssive Democrat arm of the party. Because only these principles will save America from sinking down the drain into default that the right wing of the Republican party is draging us into.