Watch Out For That Boogeyman.

       What happens in an economic downturn? I mean what's the big problem with a recession? The big bug-a-boo is that lots and lots of people lose their jobs. So what's the big deal, except for those folks who lose their jobs? For starters, they stop paying taxes and they start getting money from government in the form of unemployment compensation. So the country starts paying out more and bringing in less.
       So while its easy to say cut spending, it's a whole lot harder to cut spending enough to make a difference without severely hurting folks who find themselves in dire straits. I really don't think anybody wants to see anybody else starve, or lose their homes. People just want the problem to go away. And cutting spending sounds like an easy way to cause that to happen.
       But if you cut spending, more people wind up unemployed. Which means even more paying out and even less coming in. But at the same time, doing nothing won't help either. If the boogeyman is attacking you in the dark, putting on blinders won't help. And just sitting there doing nothing won't help either. What you need to do is find the light switch. Light drives the boogeyman away.
       The light switch for an economic downturn is to get people back to work. To do that you need to find a way to create jobs quickly. Corporate interests aren't served by them creating jobs unless there's a need for those jobs, which means a demand for the products or services of the corporation.
       That leaves it up to government to create jobs. The only way government can create jobs is to call for infrastructure work.  Government is the only one that can pull that off. No company decides to rebuild the nations infrastructure. Only government. And lord knows we need our infrastructure rebuilt.