Attitudes towards deficit spending are similar to those regarding masturbation: everybody does it, and no one admits it. To wit:
(from here)
Somehow Germany is viewed as a bastion of fiscal rectitude while the U.S. is…ZOMG!!! TEH DEFICITZ!!11!! even though German public debt relative to the size of the German economy isn’t much smaller when compared to the U.S.
No, this does not make sense to me either.
mikethemadbiologist
Making even less sense is the razzamataz kicked up by the right wing media and politicians here in Australia to the effect that we are, apparently and despite the reality of the numbers you show in your table, in deep deep debt.
Pingback: Posts That I’ve Read Today, 5/28/2012 | physicistical
Defaulting on debts is seen as bad. http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/austerity-obsession-in-recession/ has a nice chart on slide 8 showing the relationship betwen (pre-crisis) trade imbalances and current interest rates. High trade deficit (or balance of accounts or whatever) has lead to high interest rates, because it means there isn’t enough money in the country and creditors don’t trust the country not to default… maybe there are not enough “high-income” people to tax even if people wanted to.
Also, job creation without higher government spending, inflation, or trade barriers: http://jobcreationplan.blogspot.com/