Memo to All Would-Be Progressives

Government deficits are *not* your friend! They increase the percentage of tax revenue that must go to interest rather than program spending, they further the right-wing meme of ineffective government, they make it harder for people to see a return on their tax dollars, and they eventually lead to spending cuts justified by the need to trim the deficit.

Other than, 'I want to spend money and I want to spend it now', what good do deficits do that so many (although by no means all) progressives seem to support them?


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Note: I am not referring in this post to the Keynesian argument about deficits to escape a liquidity trap, that is a separate discussion, I'm just talking about run of the mill deficits such as the one we are now in.