One academic economist who actually understands how the economy works (and what keeps it from working) is Walter Williams. In this column, he explains that our economic malaise today stems from the federal government’s huge absorption of resources. As recently as the Coolidge administration, the federal budget was as little as 4 percent of GDP. Now it’s 24 percent and rising. The big government zealots and tax consumers who feed at the public trough are trying to change the subject by yammering away about “tax fairness.”