The Obama response to the economic resession is to try and make some big reforms (which really bothers people on the far right, who think the concept of “not wasting a crisis” is dirty politics), and to implement the New Deal style of economic crisis management. Most economists seem to be all for some kind of government intervention, but the general theme appears to be that the best way for government to spend on infrastructure is to pay for things that will actually increase economic activity, and not just put people to work. That’s too bad, because I think we’re about 10-20 years away from a couple of major infrastructure projects that could massively transform the modern economy. (more…)