| Author |
Message |
    
tjohn
Citizen
Username: Tjohn
Post Number: 2044
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Friday, January 9, 2004 - 8:34 pm: |     |
In 1941, it seems that one American myth of invincibility was that Corregidor, the island at the entrance to Manila Bay, would never fall. By April of 1942, this myth was destroyed, and at very great cost, we fought back and defeated Japan.
Today, our myth seems to be the invincibility of the American economy. How else can we explain the borrow and spend policies of our government that have transformed a surplus into a deficit with no realistic prospect that it will ever be resolved. (The Clinton surplus was a result of a boom economy the likes of which we will probably not see again.) The current administration is engaged in borrow and spend and is increasing unfunded federal liabilities despite the fact that major liabilities will start to come due in 10-15 years as the boomer generation starts to retire. Apparently this spend and spend plays well as there are rumors of a trillion dollar project to put a man on Mars.
At this rate, we are headed for a serious shock. Where are the politicians in favor of responsible governement? Maybe in state and local government since, at that level, it is harder to hide from reality. |
Ainsworth Hunt
Citizen
Username: Ainsworth
Post Number: 149
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, January 10, 2004 - 8:35 am: | |
http://emperors-clothes.com/news/probetrans.htm
|
notehead
Citizen
Username: Notehead
Post Number: 844
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, January 11, 2004 - 9:38 pm: | |
That Mars thing, if it is actually proposed, will be the most blatant attempt to distract the country in its history. Let's see if the rocket can climb as fast as the number of children without health insurance. |
cjc
Citizen
Username: Cjc
Post Number: 676
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Monday, January 12, 2004 - 4:20 pm: | |
As soon as you rail against the deficit (and it's accompanying low interest rates -- same as with Clinton, Reagan and now Bush which makes one theory in particular questionable) you want to transfer the wealth not to reducing the debt, but handing out insurance to every walking breathing individual like it's a right enshrined in the Constitution.
State and Local people are the same that drive up spending by at least 8% during a BOOM when people are ostensibly better off, so I don't see any fiscal responsibility as you define it there.
And no candidate running for office -- NO ONE -- has any credible plan to deal with the deficit other than Bush growing our way out of one which is what happened in the 90s. You have to grow yourself out of it, because actually reducing spending means people can't take money from others via the IRS for their own ends.
The liabilities you want to protect 10-15 years from now were unfunded and fiscally unsound when they were proposed. And you want to EXPAND them at the same time you worry about borrowing and spending.
This is why Democrats' arguments on deficits are laughable. |
mfpark
Citizen
Username: Mfpark
Post Number: 158
Registered: 9-2001
| | Posted on Monday, January 12, 2004 - 4:59 pm: | |
CJC:
Tjohn is not calling for funding additional programs--he is railing against a conservative who is running up deficits at an incredible pace. Bush is doing it not through Keynesian pump-priming (as Reagan did with the defense run up in the 80's) but by slashing taxes. It is a gamble that the additional money realized by lower taxes will translate into an economic boom. If the lower taxes are directly reinvested in jobs and production, then it will work. But so far the additional savings (garnered largely by the wealthiest quarter of society) are not being turned into jobs or even investment in America. That is what is making thoughtful people nervous--Democrats AND Republicans (see Paul Mulshine's recent articles, for example). |
Cato Nova
Citizen
Username: Cato_nova
Post Number: 23
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Monday, January 12, 2004 - 5:54 pm: | |
Technically, the thread should be "myths" and not "myth's" since we are talking about plural nouns, not possessive ones. |
cjc
Citizen
Username: Cjc
Post Number: 687
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 13, 2004 - 12:51 pm: | |
mfpark....so Bush is not having a defense run-up like Reagan did? Really?! Business capital expenditures are happening and starting to pick up -- those 25% of the wealthiest happen to own small businesses -- who's earnings are increasing and plan on hiring. I don't see where you get where you're going.
And I'll allow I might have misread tjohn as a democrat, but I don't hear democrats saying no to a farm bill, drug welfare handout to the wealthiest segment of our society -- Geezers -- or tossing more money into an inefficient and failing public school system. That's why I question his or any democrat's railing against any deficit. They have no credibility.
I've tried to read and even enjoy Mulshine, and can't finish his column. |
Montagnard
Citizen
Username: Montagnard
Post Number: 355
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 13, 2004 - 1:19 pm: | |
Clinton was able to eliminate the deficit. George A.W.O.L. Bush has done nothing but increase it. Funny way to define credibility. |
cjc
Citizen
Username: Cjc
Post Number: 689
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 13, 2004 - 1:31 pm: | |
Monty -- Clinton argued against attacking the deficit, and only was able to do it through growth in the economy - which, coincidentally, happened after "something" happened in 1994 and businesses knew tax increases weren't going to be coming their way. He only reluctanty agreed to it after Dole proposed the Balanced Budget Amendment.
Gimme a break.
Quick -- and what dem is running on deficit reduction? Dean only addressed it "well...in the 6th year of my presidency" in the most recent Dem debate. No one on that side has a plan for it.
Personally, deficits that are small relative to the national GDP don't bother me. And interst rates don't necessarily rise when we have deficits. They came down with Reagan, Clinton (and started rising with the 'surplus') and now Bush.
|
notehead
Citizen
Username: Notehead
Post Number: 852
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 13, 2004 - 1:33 pm: | |
Cjc: I know many Democrats, like myself, who are disgusted by the farm bill situation because of the massive inequities it creates in terms of international trade.
On the other issues, though, you probably have me pegged.  |
Closed: New threads not accepted on this page