Conservatives have been telling people to tighten their waistbands, year and year out, in fat times and in lean, as a matter of economic orthodoxy pretty much as long as I’ve been alive. There is literally never an economic problem I’ve seen conservatives conclude couldn’t be solved by “saving” (ie, lending money to capitalists) more and “spending” (on consumer quality of life) less.

Trump’s every villain in a Charles Dickens novel. We’ve been dealing with this Victorian Era fiscal self-flagellation since forever.