The government believes that balancing the books is virtuous. Prime Minister Scott Morrison shares the view of Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, that a government is like a household and a prudent family does not spend more than it gets in.

But there is another view, one held by many mainstream economists, and that is that governments should spend when times are bad to pump up the economy and tax when the economy heats up to cool it down.

The gathering clouds of slow growth, and perhaps recession, mean that spending is in order, particularly with interest rates so low that it can borrow cheaply.

On this argument, borrowing now to spend and lift the economy is good sense.

Make no mistake, the dark economic clouds are gathering. The rise in the unemployment rate to 5.3 per cent of the workforce was a far bigger jump than economists were expecting.

The Federal Reserve in Washington signaled that it is still worried about the US economy going into recession - and the old nostrum that when America sneezes, Australia catches cold still holds.

It all makes another cut in Australian interest rates more likely.

But we are getting to the stage where interest rates can't do the job. Only spending will get the economy moving.

But political realities change. If unemployment keeps rising, will Mr Morrison change his stance? There are already signs, with talk of fast-tracking infrastructure projects that are already approved.

If he does, he should look at the bottom end of town. The top end did well out of his post-election budget.

In July, the prime minister delivered his $158 billion post-election tax cuts. This may be good politics but it is not necessarily the best economics in the longer term.

In a lackluster economy, money needs to go to those who will spend locally and quickly.

Cutting the taxes of those who already have money doesn't meet that need. Those who have more tend to save more than do those for whom an extra dollar goes straight to a local shop.

Wages have risen miserably in recent years.

That may store up social problems as anger burns. America's "Angry White Men" carried Mr Trump to the White House in a divided America.

What might Australia's do?

Prime Minister Scott Morrison may have persuaded Mr Trump that the American trade war with China is hurting everyone, but we aren't holding our breath.

Mr Trump railed against the Federal Reserve in a Tweet but there are signs he may be becoming a little more cautious in his economic battle with China. He postponed the introduction of some new tariffs against Chinese goods, for example.

Australia prides itself on being a country where everybody feels like they are in the same boat. It is not, we like to think, a country like the United States of gross poverty next door to unimaginable riches.

The costs of division - political and social - are high so it would be nice to think that Mr Morrison turns his attention to those on Newstart and all those struggling hard to work and make a living.

It is good economics and it should be good politics. It is also the right thing to do.