A Look at the Debt Problem (4)

People used to think we could balance the budget by getting the economy to grow. (That was the whole notion underlying Supply-Side economics.) But people these days, some of 'em -- more and more of 'em -- seem to doubt we can ever grow like that again.

Much time has gone by. Many people have never known a "good" economy. As Jude Wanniski said in Reader's Digest (Feb 1995, p.49): "You have to have lived in the 1950s and 1960s to have experienced a good economy."

It's 15 years since he said that. Too much time has gone by.

It must be gradual, but in 10 years we could be on top of the world instead of simply hoping that the Great Sluggish will one day be over.

My solution to get the economy going again is to print money and use it to pay off debt. That's because I think debt is the problem. But not the Federal debt. Private debt is the problem: Our debt -- yours and mine -- is keeping us down and keeping our economy down.

Our fault?

No. It is the fault of economic policy. Bad policy. And I say: Let policy pay. Let the Federal Reserve pay. And let Congress sit on their hands and be quiet.