Your intent, and that of the author, are admirable, but miss the mark by a mile in discerning how the federal government created prosperity in the "good ol' days" and how to achieve it again.

With the necessity imposed by WWII and the depression, FDR uncapped the money supply by ending the convertibility of US dollars to gold domestically. This prompted much anguish and propaganda from the oligarchs of the day, but nothing sells like success and the voters realized that plentiful jobs and full bellies were more important than obscure monetary rules that only served the wealthy.

Presidents between FDR and Reagan benefited from the ability of government to spend on the public purpose, but the right wing propaganda machine overcame the reality of our economic system under Reagan and his constant assault on the federal government payed off handsomely.

The truth of the federal government being the "source" of the US dollar was turned around and people came to believe that their taxes actually funded their government and began to demand efficiency from it along with support for their deep racist objectives that were never defeated since the civil war. A similar movement was occurring in the UK as Thatcher boldly lied about there being no "public" money, only "taxpayer" money.

The lie of trickle down economics was born and received little pushback from opposition on either side of the pond. In spite of not being constrained by the gold standard since '34, budget discussions all begin and end with "How will you pay for it?" which is a falsehood when applied to the monopoly issuer of a sovereign fiat currency. Until someone in a sufficiently high office is bold enough to buck the common narrative and political donors to both major parties and recognize the truth of Modern Monetary Theory there will be no real hope of regaining American greatness.