This will be brief, I promise. I’m taking a macro-econ course, learning a lot, and realizing that politicians really need to know more about economics before they talk about them. I would feel more comfortable if the people representing me and influencing fiscal policy were more educated.

Government spending increases GDP (gross domestic product). So do tax cuts, but not as efficiently by a factor of people’s marginal propensity to save. Government spending is a good thing when trying to increase GDP and decrease the unemployment rate. Cutting government spending is not a smart thing to do when your economy is down in the dumps. We can worry about the deficit later, because the fed can do that. They’re not like you and me, who have to live within smaller means.

A random man with a random hat

So when people say the U.S. has to tighten its budget, they are saying they’d like to decrease GDP and increase the unemployment rate. That’s almost just as bad as someone saying, “Let it be – it’ll fix itself.” Paying attention to our deficit is something we need to do, but not while climbing out of a recession.

Could this be why some people would prefer if college students votes were restricted?