Over the past few years, many on the right, and some in the media and even to a small extent among those on the left have said that our economy has grown. In fact, the stock market has risen, and some indicators of our economy have improved. But this is a picture of aggregates. An economy must be efficient and effective for ALL participants (and non-participants as well). If the medians, averages, etc rise, that does not mean that the economy is growing for everyone.

Spending must be gauged for the areas that need investment most. There are no simple rules. Fiscal, budgetary, monetary, and labor policy are complex. We cannot be pigeonholed into small positions that say “no new spending” or something like that when clearly we need more public investment to make our economy work for everyone.