Figure the Odds

Samuelson paints a bleak picture.  What are the odds that politicians would tell the truth - we don't know what to do, we never have, and we will now stop pretending to know that which cannot be known.  "But there has to be action, we can't cut spending, but we can't continue to spend without more "revenue" for fear of further debt driven market trauma!!"  We live in an age in which government spending is viewed as economic stimulus, thus we act like an addict.  We cannot stop spending because we instinctively associate pain to that choice - short  term pain, but sharp. 

Like any addict though, there's only one solution - stop spending, relinquish control, stop pretending to have control over that which cannot be controlled, let the body begin to heal.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/09/26/repeating_mistakes_of_the_1930s_111465.html