If our politicians were not idiots...

[Lief 🗽]

They would see that it is incredibly cheap for the government to borrow right now, that the retreat of the markets from stocks to treasuries means that the markets do not fear debt or inflation but depression and deflation, and that we have trillions of dollars worth of infrastructure upgrades to make that could easily be financed with some of this cheap, cheap debt. They would realize that these roads and bridges are going to have to be rebuilt at some point in time anyway, so it makes sense to rebuild them now, when we can get the money to do so on the cheap and there are plenty of unemployed workers to work on these projects.

But our politicians are idiots, and because of that we are doomed to at least a decade of severe depression, unemployment, and poverty.

[Beet]

The Republicans aren't too interested in reducing unemployment, because they're planning to run on that next year.

[Sam Spade]

That game works until it doesn't.  And there's no guarantee that it'll actually do anything other than increase the amount of correction needed long-term, if there's a lesson to be learned from the 2008 period to now.  We've have had three and a half years of nothing for over $5 trillion spent.

Remember that these types of moves too can be insider anticipation for more Fed monetizing (as they have been the previous two times), as opposed to much else.

[Beet]

No correction is 'needed' long term. The basis of the economy is the amount of technology, capital and labor deployed. America is physically capable of producing at least the level of GDP at the highest quarter in terms of volume. Extended periods of very high unemployment are the fault of poor organization of the means of production.

[opebo]

This concept 'correction' is nothing more than a neo-liberal fantasy, Beet.  SS is perhaps the worst of the deluded - he thinks everything will be OK if we wear a hair shirt.  Of course no amount of wearing of the hair shirt, or praying, or any other childish superstitions will work to solve our problem - only State action will solve our problem.

[greenforest32]

The Republicans aren't too interested in reducing unemployment, because they're planning to run on that next year.