Economics 101

Most thinking people have noticed the staggering impact of "the new austerity" on many countries in Europe. Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Ireland all bit the financial bullet in response to deficit hysteria from the right, and now they are all either deeply mired in recession or teetering on the brink of collapse.

The only reason the US economy hasn't been flushed down the same toilet is because of a dose of stimulus spending ... which any sane economist now agrees could have been and should have been significantly higher. But because we're in the stranglehold of Tea Party paranoia wrapped in a blanket of good old fashioned puritanism, policy makers have no capacity to invest in America. "Cutting spending" is the only order of the day.