This may be true at the national level: the combination of a huge federal deficit and a bitterly partisan political culture has rendered government catatonic.

ECONOMIST: Lexington

And they say, the huge and growing federal deficit.

FORBES: Voters Fear Bankruptcy Of U.S. Government, Pols Don't Care

These people see the federal budget deficit, the huge debt burden and the risk of a stagflation-type environment of low growth and high inflation, and cannot understand how investors could be piling into bonds.

FORBES: Five Bubbles Still In The Blowing Phase

Surely the plummeting in this huge chunk of federal outlays would zero out the deficit, given any further recovery, under the tax-rate status quo.

FORBES: President Obama Doesn't Even Believe His Own Economic Hype

The broad economic benefits show up not just in jobs and incomes, but also in huge reductions in imports and our trade deficit, as well as reductions in both state and federal debt.

FORBES: Jobs In a Ripple-Out Economy Come From Oil, Gas, Coal, and Then the Cloud