Zandi has been the "go to" guy, or the "inverted pyramid source" for almost everyone claiming that massive government spending creates economic prosperity and good jobs.

If I believed in that kind of thinking I could create millions of jobs in a week by simply declaring a government program to build a full-sized Egyptian pyramid in every county in the country.

There are jobs that create new wealth (and new revenues), and jobs that just burn both. Not all government jobs fall into the latter category, but too many do. Certainly far more than in the private sector, where useless jobs destroy profits.

And not to belabor the point, but the deficit this year will be $1.6 trillion. I can remember what Democrats here were saying when Bush was fielding $400 billion deficits. One might almost suspect it wasn't about the deficits in the first place.