Issues in International Political Economy - October 2009 - Number 118 - "Getting an Education about the Real World"

Most of the U.S. population got an education during the past two years about what exists in the real world. Before then the dominant dogma exemplified a narrow ideology that leaves no room for the preventive and corrective roles of government when making economic policy. Beyond the reminder that bankers are not necessarily prudent, the reinforcement of my education over the past few years includes the following: it sometimes takes decisive government action to rescue the private sector from its follies; the size of fiscal deficits should not be determined simply to favor a balanced budget, but properly depend on the national economic situation; however, large and sustained fiscal deficits, such as those under the Bush administration, are dangerous for the economy and for the market system itself.