Bartlett is a policy analyst. Keynes was right about deficits, but the government should promote investment and business activity, not demand. Manipulating currency is a zero sum game. For everything it gives it takes away, and often times it leads to loss of confidence in the currency. Trade balances are no problem as long as they result from differences in domestic growth between trading partners. The federal deficit is the real problem. If a Democrat was in the White House I'd probably get close to 100% agreement around here.
I think you'll get 100% agreement around here that spending is out of control. The deficit is much, much lower than the norm in a time of war. And let's not even go to the "biggest deficit in history" crap. It isn't. You have to measure the deficit in terms of the balance sheet and the income statement.