During a recent post election political discussion at my Tony club, a semi liberal made a statement which seems to be the fall back position for the blistered Democrats. "Well what about the mess your fella left?"
Let's blog about that for a moment.
In fact, let's look at the facts:
After the dot com bust and 9-11 as well as 2 wars (their necessity a topic for another time-wars they were), the 2007 deficit was a manageable portion of GDP and the unemployment rate was hovering around 5%. Not bad, granted earmarks exploded and discretionary spending rose too quickly but things were heading in the right direction.
Then...Too many folks bought homes they could not afford, this went on for a long time, aided and abetted by our government and corrupted by our banks, but EVERYONE should have known better and the S--t hit the fan.
THAT was the mess that was left, and a mess it was. However, it was not a mess involving the health care industry, it was a mess of lending and their response...more borrowing! Everyone not stupid like Paul K. knows that does not make sense.
So here we are in a new era (the last era lasting 2 years) and I have 2 things to say:
To my club friend who probably will never read this blog, but will hear reports from the pro, as well as Baxter...you keep implying that..".hey the Republicans got their turn at over spending, we get ours!" Is that your argument? Cause if it is, it is dumb.
More importantly, and I don't get this, what do you have against the TEA party?
The TEA party candidates seemed to run on principal and discussed difficult issues. I heard Rand Paul talk about entitlements, I heard Joe Miller talk about limiting unemployment insurance. You complain that the TEA party folks talk about limited spending and limited government but don't pony up THEIR entitlements.
That is just not true. We all know unless we deal with entitlements, we are on a quick road to bankruptcy. The TEA party is offering honest solutions and being treated like wacko's in the process. I liken the initial wave and their defeat to a sacrificial group offering peace in time of war.
What is a matter with you Liberals? Are you daft?
4 comments:
Just look at the budget below and tell me what you want to cut and by how much. You need 35%, ($15,012) from the left hand column to balance the budget.
You don't get to philosophize about waste, fraud and abuse. You have to use actual numbers.
I'm a libertarian. I'm a radical. I would do it. I would cut everything on the list by 35%. No exceptions.
Eric -
How would you do that? If you do it all at once, the economy contracts 10% +/- directly (which by many definitions is a depression) and another 7% +/- thanks to the multiplier effect. "Dust Bowl Economics".
Rich -
OK. Then just freeze spending and don't give an inch.
That will minimize the shock you refer to and give a significant boost to investor confidence.
I don't really want to raise taxes to pay for these programs. I look at that list and all I see is an even longer list of government contractors and special interests that benefit from the status quo.
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