Saved by the Deficit?
By ROBERT B. REICH
Published: October 9, 2008 
If the nation plunges into a deeper recession, the deficit will be even larger as a proportion of the economy. Yet all is not what it seems.

•  January 1993 compared to January 2009 — Clinton coming into office with a 5% deficit, vs the pending president elect coming into office with a 3.3% deficit (of GDP). Similarly, in January of 1993, we saw the emergence of an economic recovery, vs our present situation
• The impact of the $700b bailout rescue on the deficit, increasing it to 6%, and role as an investment, not an expense
• The appetite for deficit spending in the coming year to handle the economic uncertainty and deepening recession through investment, employment, and spending of last resort.