Role of government

Oh, and the right-wing commentariat is still insisting that government spending is wasteful and ineffective — that is, that government never creates anything of value.

Fact: private enterprise skims the easy profits. Big investments in infrastructure, as well as in R&D, usually require government participation because profit is too far in the future for private businesses and investors to want to do what's needed.

Tax Cuts

So Gov. Bobby Jindal — who thinks it's OK for public schools to teach religious doctrine in place of science — says that the economic stimulus bill relied too much on spending instead of on tax cuts.

The fact: the stimulus bill made the largest tax cut in the history of the United States — just as Candidate Obama promised.

But it only reduces taxes for 95% of working people. It doesn't reduce taxes for the wealthiest 5%. If you earn more than $250,000 per year, the Republican party wants to be your friend.