Inflated

Americans as a whole view themselves as reasonably prudent and sober people when it comes to matters of money, even though the choices we make at the ballot box and in Washington seem at odds with that self image. Yet Americans as a community also seem to believe that we are entitled to a lifestyle that is well-beyond our current income, a tendency that goes back to the earliest days of the United States. Inflated examines this apparent conflict and makes the argument that such a way of life is so instilled in us that to expect the US to live in a "deflated" world is simply unrealistic. The fact of the dollars role as the means of exchange for the entire world since the middle of the 20th Century and the short-term benefits for our trading partners of deficit spending in the US have encouraged Americas tendency to demand immediate gratification of national wants and needs. No program is too large, no need too great to go unfulfilled by Americas political class and fu