Comment on a Comment

This is important enough to break out, a recent comment linked to an article reading, in part:

an array of stimulus failures on the part of both Democratic and Republican administrations in the 1970s

Here is total government spending, in real 2005 dollars, from 1965 to 1985. Would you please point to the strong stimulus in the '70s?

I post this not to be intended as an economic analysis of the entire article, but as the reason I disregard it entirely.  When I cannot trust the facts a source provides, I feel no need to look at their analysis.

This, in fact, gets at the heart of my entire philosophy, in life, just as in science, to be convinced I need to see a theory that purports to explain the world, and then data to show that it fits the world well. In short: show me the data!