ABSTRACT
These days the merits of public spending are beside the point. The reigning presumption is that such spending is not affordable. Benefit/cost calculus is excluded from the political calculation.
Between January of 2001 and 2004, the US federal budget outlook lurched from a projected ten-year surplus of $5.6 trillion to a deficit of nearly $5 trillion. This dramatic reversal encouraged the affordability canard. This paper shows that strong growth of domestic spending is feasible, and it can be fiscally responsible. A liberal budget need not be impractical.
