The Goal In The End Is Not

[t]he Next Time You Hear Serious-sounding People Explaining The Need For Fiscal Austerity, Try To Parse Their Argument. Almost Surely, You'll Discover That What Sounds Like Hardheaded Realism Actually Rests On A Foundation Of Fantasy, On The Belief That Invisible Vigilantes Will Punish Us If We're Bad And The Confidence Fairy Will Reward Us If We're Good. And Real-world Policy - Policy That Will Blight The Lives Of Millions Of Working Families - Is Being Built On That Foundation.

If Europe’s Example Is Any Guide, Here Are The Two Secrets Of Coping With Expensive Oil: Own Fuel-efficient Cars, And Don’t Drive Them Too Much.

[i]n America, At Least, We Have A Pretty Good Record For Behaving In A Fiscally Responsible Fashion, With One Exception - Namely, The Fiscal Irresponsibility That Prevails When, And Only When, Hard-line Conservatives Are In Power.

Governments Do Not Necessarily Act In The National Interest, Especially When Making Detailed Microeconomic Interventions. Instead, They Are Influenced By Interest Group Pressures. The Kinds Of Interventions That New Trade Theory Suggests Can Raise National Income Will Typically Raise The Welfare Of Small, Fortunate Groups By Large Amounts, While Imposing Costs On Larger, More Diffuse Groups.

It Has Been Obvious All Along, To Anyone Paying Attention, That The Politicians Shouting Loudest About Deficits Are Actually Using Deficit Hysteria As A Cover Story For Their Real Agenda, Which Is Top-down Class Warfare. To Put It In Romneyesque Terms, It's All About Finding An Excuse To Slash Programs That Help People Who Like To Watch Nascar Events, Even While Lavishing Tax Cuts On People Who Like To Own Nascar Teams.