Shrink The Government Or Grow The Economy.

       I'd love to be convinced that spending cuts would grow the economy. I'd love to have it explained to me how firing thousands of government workers and hundreds of thousands of private sector workers would cause the economy to suddenly come alive. What would make a corporate board or CEO decide that with several million more unemployed people in the country, that this is the time to increase production?
       "Hey fellow board members, I just heard that three million more people lost their jobs Whatta ya say we start manufacturing more products for these folks to buy?" a board member might suggest. "I think this is just the time to buy some new equipment and hire an extra thousand workers to increase our already swollen inventory on the hopes that, by firing more people, everyone's taxes will go down."
       Never mind that by firing all these people the country's income will shrink and its expenses will go up. There would still be a net saving and that's all a corporation would need to convince it that good times are here at last. Don't worry that fewer people will be able to afford to buy our products, the government has more money to pay off its debt. Or if it prefers, the government might be interested in buying our product instead of paying on the debt.
       I can understand the shear joy in that board meeting as they vote to spend money wildly and borrow even more wildly. I can even see the bank board looking at the application from the corporation for borrowing more money to expand when fewer buyers exist for the product. Yep. That bank's loan board will surely jump at the chance to throw money at this endeavor. After all, banks are in the business of gambling on chancy bets.