In a message board thread in response to a Worcester T & G Political cartoon, I was explaining why stimulus aid from the federal government to state and local governments was beneficial.

Unlike state governments, the federal government is allowed to do deficit spending.

This is a time shifting mechanism that allows the money to be spent when it is needed and the taxes to be collected when the economy can afford it.

The states have no legal means for such time shifting strategies. The states are also too small by themselves to do this in such away that the feedback on the global economy is beneficial.

The federal government which is all 50 states acting together can do this.

We are in this mess because the former government time shifted spending and taxes in exactly the wrong way. They refused to collect taxes when the economy could afford it (in fact the economy needed a LITTLE draining to prevent the bubbles.) This former administration also spent when the economy didn’t need it, thus competing with the private sector.

When properly done the government spending fills in for weak private spending and then retreats when private spending is strong. When done bass ackwards, the policy is a disaster. In future histories, the recent past Republican administrations will be used as prime examples of how to mess it up.

Listen to President Obama’s recent public conversation with the Republican congressional conference to learn about the two ways to run things.

It then occurred to me that a playground swing is a perfect example of when doing something at the right time is beneficial but doing the same thing at the wrong time gets you nowhere.

I thought about the actions that you take to get a swing moving. If you do those actions at the wrong time, you don’t move. I figured someone on the web has already looked into this.

Follow this link to a fascinating explanation including videos of experiments to show you why you can get a swing to swing.  I took a physics course or two in my life ( to put it mildly ) and I must admit it took looking at the videos to fully digest the early parts.  I learned a thing or two.  I don’t know if the non-physics oriented person will be able to handle the heavier explanations at the end.  Give it a try anyway.  The videos are great.

The President pledges to rein the deficit, citing three specific steps to this end. He praises the Senate for restoring the pay-as-you-go law, discusses his proposal for a freeze in discretionary spending, and calls for a bipartisan Fiscal Commission to hammer out further concrete deficit reduction proposals.