Keynes

Most Liberals follow the economic ideas of John Maynard Keynes. Keynes said that when the economy is in the slumps the government should deficit spend and then in good time the government should collect money and pay back the debt. I always felt this was a good way to do things but unfortunately in practice the government was only half Keynesian. In down times they would spend the country into debt but in good times they would not repay the debt. Instead they started up new programs to provide benefits and the net result is we have too many programs and too much debt. Surprise!
It is another one of those ideas that looks good on paper but doesn’t work in the real world, sort of like socialism. When elected officials see some extra money they cannot control themselves and must spend it to gain votes in the next election. Then the people who get the benefits reelect them. We have the government we deserve. It seems the only way to get people to behave in a responsible manner is through force and thus ideas like The Balanced Budget Amendment and term limits are gaining in popularity. They are both bad ideas but considered the lesser of two evils. It seems there is not a lot of difference between our elected officials and our children.