Stop Spending should become a mantra here in Australia, too. All our economic problems are the fault of politicians spending other people's money on rubbish ideas.

Wrong. This is the sort of economic rationale that turned a manageable recession into the great depression!

What is required is a new, new deal, based on Keysean economics. This is how America and the world not only got out of the great depression, but ushered in, an unprecedented period of prosperity.

Economic growth and prosperity progressively dismantled by conservative thinkers like the bone-headed author. Why? because it went against the ideological imperatives they are mindlessly welded to. Think, their basic wage remained fixed and the same for thirty years.

Accompanied by the mindless chant, the government has no business in business. Of note, the only private business/free market, model that survived the great depression largely intact, were co-ops. And then progressively destroyed by Ultra Conservative numbskulls, who are welded to huge corporate conglomerates, who among other things, avoid tax, price gouge, repatriate profits.

Business practices that costs America and the world annual trillions. And all but forces government to create debt just to fund recurrent expenditure.

Until these harmful practices end. The debt problem can only grow!

Apart from the above, America needs to transition to nuclear energy and with it, total energy independence. And electrify the economy as rapidly as possible by enforcing emission standards that will compel the big car manufacturers to transition to electric vehicles only.

[The fossil fuel energy barons will do all they can to quite literally sabotage/destroy that transition!]

The above economic combinations will create thousands of new wealth creating opportunities and jobs, jobs, jobs. And with it the only thing that will draw down debt, economic growth! Moreover, act to prevent catastrophic climate change.
Alan B.

Wasting money on people whose number one priority is to down the stupid West is the real problem !

The first place from which to cut spending would of course be the Pentagon death machine. But unfortunately for every life form on this planet the US is now a permanent warfare state and its continuing "prosperity" depends on the ever expanding growth of the Pentagon death machine.
The manufacture of "beautiful bombs" and their delivery systems is very good for business. As far as I know every American state has substantial businesses which provide relatively secure employment etc for significant numbers of the population. As do the existence of hundreds of military bases (in the US) too.

The military-industrial (death machine)-complex is of course the ultimate manifestation of Big Government.
If anyone thinks/pretends that it will be reined in if the Republicans gain control of federal government and with the election of the Orange Jesus then they are completely deluded.
Check out these two essays which describe the scenario.

http://tomdispatch.com/trump-2-0 especially the section under the heading Common Defense (sic).

http://tomdispatch.com/the-military-industrial-complex-is-the-winner-not-you

And of course associated with the above is the ever expanding growth of the 24/7 Surveillance State which became a hugely enormous growth industry in response to Sept 11.

One big spend that should never have occurred, and should now be stopped, is the $10 billion a year subsidies to renewables.

How about the $20 billion for Snowy 2.0; and the mooted $100 billion to be spent on unnecessary power transmission wires.

Then there is the estimated $9 trillion over 3 decades on (the unlikely) event of reaching Net Zero. And the $3.5 trillion of your retirement savings that Greg Combet wants to get into to spend on energy transition.