Since the mid-1970s U.S. fiscal policy has been reckless, causing the debt-to-GDP ratio to balloon. Much of this problem has arisen from political ideology and expressive voting of people with an “unconstrained vision”—the idea that we can throw off real economic constraints and reach utopia if we get the government to spend more; that we can improve our lot by surrendering control of the economy and our lives to an anointed few with their unconstrained fantasies. If this worrisome trend continues, we may be headed for disaster.

Dwight R. Lee is a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute and Affiliated Visiting Faculty Fellow in the Institute for the Study of Political Economy in the Miller College of Business at Ball State University.
Michael DeBow received his bachelor's and master's degrees in economics from the University of Alabama (1976, 1978). He graduated from the Yale Law School in 1980, and is a member of the District of Columbia Bar
Economic PolicyEconomyFederal Reserve and Central BankingFiscal Policy/DebtGovernment and PoliticsLaw and LibertyPolitical Theory
Other Independent Review articles by Dwight R. Lee
Summer 2019 The Fifth Risk: Undoing Democracy
Spring 2019 The Diversity Delusion: How Race and Gender Pandering Corrupt the University and Undermine Our Culture
Spring 2015 Making the Case against “Price Gouging” Laws: A Challenge and an Opportunity
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