In his column today, Sheldon Richman argues that the best governmental response to a recession is the precise opposite of the course taken by Bush and Obama — instead of more government activity, we need less.

That is, when the economy turns down (always a consequence of previous governmental actions that caused discoordination between what some producers were doing and what consumers really wanted), the best policy would be to cut taxes and also cut unnecessary government spending, thereby freeing up resources for the private sector to use productively.

It’s the great fable of our times that government officials can run the economy. All they can do is to impede its efficient use of resources to produce the goods and services that are most desired by consumers.