It's The Demand, Stupid

Dean Baker on what's wrong with the economy,and what isn't:

The only way to get close to full employment in the short-term is through much higher levels of deficit spending. In the longer term we will have to lower the value of the dollar to get the trade deficit closer to balanced.

It really is that simple. The problem is not regulation, taxes, or uncertainty, the problem was that the stimulus was not big enough or long enough. As it is, we are sitting around watching our national leaders debate why the water that they heated to 160 degrees is not boiling. This is getting really painful.

Another Lesson on National Income Accounting for Robert Samuelson

I am beginning to despair that we will never see anyone in a position of leadership in this country acknowledge this basic fact.

Cue the idiots who want to blame this on Republicans. It's not the Republicans who are in power, and they aren't the ones making the President and Democratic members of Congress say the stupid things they are saying about the economy. No one who is in a position to make things change in DC is doing anything but what Baker describes. Anyone who actually does seem to see some relationship between the non-boiling of water and the temperature is basically saying that we need to lower the air pressure so it will boil at 160 degrees. If you don't know why that's funny, then check the link, and remember what happens to people who are at 29,000 feet when they don't have a supplemental oxygen supply.