Until consumers start spending on their own, yeah.

how would that work then? wouldnt paying for it with taxes be easier?

btw, the USA badly needs to nationalise alot of its services.

Personally, I'd like to see airlines nationalized.  Even mrstickball will admit that government incompetence could hardly be worse than the incompetence we've been seeing from many of the airline companies, and if taxpayer money is bailing them out every decade or so anyway shouldn't taxpayer money get what it's paying for? 

good idea, you can also regulate all the prices and emmissions and stuff

I honestly cannot comment on airlines, as I haven't read enough concerning their major problems, and how to fix them. I think, though, that its one area that regulations may be a good thing to have - to ensure unification of standards, airlines, and solutions prior to their de-regulation in the 70's.

Having said that, I do fly a lot. I know people that travel a lot speak fondly of how the system was prior to de-regulation.

Maybe the government should let 'em all go bankrupt (no bailouts) and if they do indeed all fail....Start it back up as a public utility. Not sure though, I still need to research all of the causes of US airline woes.

Now, about the land issues of America and the dust bowl:

http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/F/FR013.html

After some time, the government gave away free homes and waived all fees for people to get free land from former indian territories. Essentially, the government gave them the land, provided they 'improved it'. How did they improve it? By laying the ground work for massive farms, which eventually led to the over-farming which casued the dust bowl.

You do both, you lower taxes, and increase government spending. Precisely why it's defeceit spending.

Fucking NJ-Transit sucks, got fucking stuck twice in a row, and I don't ride it 5 days a week like most people.

Federal Budget Revenues fluctuate depending on the strength of the domestic and the world economy.  When government exceeds expenditure a deficit is created. When government's revenue exceeds most world governments create deficits and debts. National debts can be offset by increasing foreign debt. 

Transferring debt from national debt to foreign debt through bonds is a great way of reducing national debt and turns deficit into surplus. Creative accounting through Treasury department can indeed make the National Budget figures look impressive. 

Government budget costs always blow out. There is no way that either party can ensure the estimated costs are the end costs of the finished costs when the project is completed. Variables can make the costs of projects blow out considerably.

Trap the people with huge debt ensures they are slaves. US is  heading towards a weaker or no welfare system: just let the underclass fend for themselves and offer no hope and no future. Public health system has been rejected. Private enterprise controls everything in the US. Michael Moore's  "Sicko" shows how evil Corporate Health system is in the US. There is no Public health alternative for the lower-socio economic class. 

So, at what point does "you can have this land free if you are willing to farm it for X years" become equivalent to "hey and in a decade or two, why don't you start practicing inappropriately intensive farming techniques".  I really don't think you can blame that on the government but whatever floats your boat.  I just don't know how you square it with the private businesses being super smart. 

edit:  also how sure are you that these farms were "massive"?  I thought this was more like homesteading. 

edit2:  lol, just noticed that the law you refer to is more like a "farm bailout".  They were already there, they just had trouble paying the bills.  So they pressured Congress to pay for them.  It was never supposed to be free. 

Classical Economics versus Keynesian Economics. Two conflicting Economic systems  both with pros and cons. Classical Economic theory of economist Adam Smith in the late 18th century.  Keynesian economics is the alternative to Classical Economics which was constructed in the 20th century preceding the Great Depression and used by economists and governments around the world to formulate government policies to regulate the economy and improve society. There are flaws in both economic theories. 

Keynesian economics strongly supports government intervention when needed and encourages increased government spending and building of infrastructure when the private sector is struggling. When the economy improves then less spending is needed. Keynesian economics turned things around and brought US economy back from the dead following the Great Depression. Regulations and acts were introduced following the Great Depression and rebuilt the US economy. The US economy peaked in the 1920's due to market deregulations and over valuation of assets which collapsed and corrected itself- establishment of a new market equilibrium through the use of Smith's Invisible Hand.

Shadow banking system taking over the conventional banking system. Deregulation brought about a lack of financial controls and regulations. There was no international gold standard to set currency rates: currency exchange rates could be manipulated. Shadow banking system played a major role in the GFC and the economic chaos in Europe and the US. Countries in South America and Asia with limited exposure to the Shadow banking system felt a smaller financial impact. The regulations and controls implemented into the financial system were gradually removed over time which lead to the rise of the shadow market, fiat capital and the Wall Street Swindlers bankrupted America and the world through their greed and corruption.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_banking_system

Nobel laureate Paul Krugman described the run on the shadow banking system as the "core of what happened" to cause the crisis. "As the shadow banking system expanded to rival or even surpass conventional banking in importance, politicians and government officials should have realized that they were re-creating the kind of financial vulnerability that made the Great Depression possible--and they should have responded by extending regulations and the financial safety net to cover these new institutions.

Influential figures should have proclaimed a simple rule: anything that does what a bank does, anything that has to be rescued in crises the way banks are, should be regulated like a bank." He referred to this lack of controls as "malign neglect."

"...One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them..." – J.R.R. Tolki