Jared Bernstein comes up with a few reasons why the economy seems to be stuck in its low growth path. Among them:
Another reason we’re stuck where we are is because too many people, including many in positions of power, simply disdain government’s role in an economy they view as exclusively private. These are the “government doesn’t create jobs” crowd, though I’m not sure what you do with the 22 million people who work for government, the millions more private-sector jobs that at least partially depend on government spending (e.g., contractors), and the fact that a consistent drag on our current economy is the loss of state and local jobs.
Yea, I’m not sure what you do with them either. They’re there, and they’re consuming things just like every other employed schmuck. If there were more of them consuming more things then that would mean more businesses making money, expanding and hiring to meet rising demand, investing in new capital, all of which would mean rising demand in sectors serving those first ones, etc. This isn’t mystical. And all that extra income investment and consumption would mean more taxes collected so the debt could go down, which should make confidence fairy lovers happy too.
But some people just don’t like government.
520 Chestnut 
[…] this month, I pointed out the blatantly obvious fact that government employees are people with jobs who buy things and pay for services, and that firing […]