TRIAL BALLOON - SHOOT IT DOWN - AT 8:41 A.M. ET:  The economic masterminds in Washington apparently have the itch to spend again.  There are various home remedies for this - taking the checkbook away from the offender, locking teenagers in rooms, cutting up the department-store cards - but a stronger defense is needed on the national level.  Stop them before they spend again:

July 7 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. should consider drafting a second stimulus package focusing on infrastructure projects because the $787 billion approved in February was “a bit too small,” said Laura Tyson, an adviser to President Barack Obama.

The current plan “will have a positive effect, but the real economy is a sicker patient,” Tyson said in a speech in Singapore today. The package will have a more pronounced impact in the third and fourth quarters, she added, stressing that she was speaking for herself and not the administration.

COMMENT:  I'm not an economist and give no economic prescriptions, but we do know that the American people, as shown in one survey after another, are becoming deeply apprehensive over the level of spending and debt generated by Washington.  That apprehension easily translates into fear and lack of confidence.  It does not translate into hiring new employees or buying new items. 

We hope this economic decline doesn't get worse, but it might.  If it does, Mr. Obama will dream of a return to his first six months in office.

July 7, 2009