Obama’s “bold” stimulus package is anything but. He is not venturing into any unchartered terrirtory. He has not come up with any new ideas. He is using a simple variation-on-a-liberal-theme, which involves more and more government spending in order to get out of a crisis. FDR did it, Carter did it, now Obama plans to do it.

Throughout this entire politicization of economics, hundreds of solutions have been offered. Coming from the right is mostly the idea that the government should stay out of it. Coming from the left (and McCain and Bush) is the idea that infusing the economy with “capital” is the way to go; nevermind where that “capital” comes from. One thing I have not heard from a prominent politician is a reduction in government spending.

We have seen hundreds of thousands of jobs lost, and Obama has warned of “millions” more. Have there been any federal government layoffs? Has there been an effort to curb spending by any government agency? Has there been any sort of inclination for the federal government to set the example and live within their means? The answer to all three of these has been “no.”

The United States Postal Service was reportedly considering layoffs in October, but then they denied it in November and announced a raise in rates beginning January 1, 2009 (as if that is going to encourage the use of snail-mail). Government agencies have been spending their budget to the fullest over the past year; some have even been spending more. (If they don’t spend their budget to the fullest, they don’t get the same amount next year.) And now the Obama administration is announcing a “bold” stimulus package that will increase government spending by trillions over the next four years, although he hasn’t exactly given a number.

Obama claims that this deflationary spiral will increase the defecit. What is he talking about? If prices go down and the defecit remains the same, it is only an increase in relative defecit. The only way to increase the actual defecit is by spending more money. If you owe $1,000 on your Visa for a computer you bought, you owe $1,000 regardless of the value of the dollar or the computer; it may just be a little harder to pay off. If you continue to use your Visa you will owe more.

But Obama’s answer to the economic flu has been to create more and more government jobs (Office of the President-elect; Change.gov; technology czar…), and he hasn’t even been sworn in yet…