You know, I have heard the "guns and butter" argument for years and have not even been a LITTLE convinced.  There was no problems with the economy until we ran short of a real product--namely oil.  There was no shortage of food, or steel, or labor, or industrial capacity, or housing, or anything else.  But when it became clear that we didn't have enough oil to control the price, then everything else unraveled.

Of course, because MOST economists have NEVER understood the value or importance of energy, they addressed the shortage of oil with usury.  And 35 years later, the same fools are prescribing the same stupid "cures".  And they call economics a science.  Like hell it is!

I cannot treat economists seriously until they comes up with a believable scheme to organize substitutes for oil. And if that means every hedge fund on planet earth goes bust in the process, well that will just be a plus.

"Remember the I35W bridge--who needs terrorists when there are Republicans"