When you're in a recession, you might need some deficit spending to jump start the economy while the private sector recovers and the economy can continue to grow organically. The problem is, once the economy is going again, you need to cut back on spending and pay down debt. What both parties forget is that in good times you save for the bad times. They spend like there is no tomorrow in both good and bad times and here we are. I will bet you anything that if Mitt wins (and I hope he wins just to prove my point), the debt will continue to grow but he'll just blame Obama for it. I truly believe we're well on our way to reaching $25-$30T in national debt no matter what party is in power. Government spending the size of the US is like a freight train trying to stop in 100 feet. It's like you lose your job - you have no income, so you need to "deficit" spend or you don't get to support your household, but once employed, you have to save again and pay down any debt you incurred while unemployed. I personally don't like neither party because both parties put party before people, so I can't side with any particular party.
An independent party is very feasible, but we need to get the independents to stop voting Democrat/Republican and let those parties keep their base. Neither party can win elections with just their base, and once you have an independent party that makes sense for America you'll see that the people that are not on the extremes will leave the establishment parties.
Originally Posted by icuminpeace
I actually agree with much of your post. The idea of increasing government spending during a recession and decreasing in the recovery is what John Maynard Keynes advocated, as I understand it. The so called Keynesians (like Obama) forget about paying off the debt, run up in the downturn, when the economy recovers. The Libs justify increased spending in recessions to help the poor, who suffer more in a downturn. Then, when the economy recovers, the Libs say there's no excuse not to spend more on social welfare because we have plenty, and we must share. Consequently, there's never a good time to cut spending.