Two promises that almost every politician likely will make this election year are to balance the federal budget and reduce the government's influence on our daily lives. However, in the new book "The Vampire State and Other Myths and Fallacies About the U.S. Economy," UC Davis sociologist Fred Block argues that the motivation behind these drastic goals comes from an outdated, oversimplified mode of thinking. Such ideology, Block says, has its roots in Christian imagery and sees economic capital as blood, and the federal government as a blood-sucking vampire. "There's a particular history that explains some of the disillusionment with government, and once that disillusionment is in place, it's hard to reverse it," Block said. "So what one needs to do is to essentially persuade people that government action can actually solve economic problems." Block advocates campaign finance reform, taxing the rich more than the poor, making loans more available to fledgling businesses, and halting across-the-board budget cuts. Borrowing from the old adage that war is too important to leave to the generals, Block justifies his unique point of view as a sociologist by saying the economy is too important to leave to the economists.