What Happened to the Government's Duty to Iron Out the Business Cycle?

Is central government properly matched to balance out the economic ups and downs.  Brad wants to know, and so do I.

If government multipliers have any meaning, then they are traceable in their ups and downs.  We have downed, then upped a bit, then downed, then upped a tiny, and now we dip.  Over that three year baseline, who has discerned the multiplier going from up to down then up?  Central government does not have that bandwidth.

But what about the long wave balance?  Exactly, look at ten year treasury yields since 1980; then talk about balance.