Fiddlestix.
Governments especially can’t spend their way to our prosperity. Their spending is the equivalent of a bonfire of the currencies.
Tax increases don’t work. Arthur Laffer and experience have repeatedly shown that tax increases (at current levels of taxation) reduce treasury revenues.
Regulation doesn’t work. See IPO count after SarBox.
Protectionism doesn’t work. See Smoot Hawley.
The only things that work are government spending cuts, tax cuts, regulation cuts, and more free trade.
Europe seems to have figured out the first one. Let’s see who else can get on the Growth Train.
I agree with everything you said except “fiddlesticks.”
The problem is that we’ve already had too much government spending, tax increases, regulation, and protectionism (at the behest of the union bosses). And there are no government spending cuts (except on the military), tax cuts, regulation cuts, and free trade on the horizon.
Hence my point that a depression is inevitable. More of the same “stimulus” et al garbage might delay it a little, but will just make it worse. FAR worse.