Allow me to suggest people read this from Alan Greenspan in 2001.
"Of more relevance for the nearer term, current forecasts suggest that under a reasonably wide variety of possible tax and spending policies, the resulting surpluses will allow the Treasury debt held by the public to be paid off. Moreover, well before the debt is eliminated--indeed, possibly within a relatively few years--it may become difficult to further reduce outstanding debt to the public because the remaining obligations will mostly consist of savings bonds, well-entrenched holdings of long-term marketable debt, and perhaps other types of debt that could prove difficult to reduce. Whether economic developments and tax and budget choices will, in the end, produce surpluses of the order of magnitude currently projected is open to debate. But the probability of substantial continuing surpluses is sufficiently high to require that, at a minimum, we begin to address their potential implications for fiscal policy decisionmakers, financial markets, and the Federal Reserve."
And Greenspan was always a proponent of deficit spending, particularly with the Friedman approach that if you cut taxes, the subsequent stimulus pays for itself. Yeah, that actually never happens, and you can see how this fallacy caused him to be considered one of the architects of the Housing Bubble that crashed the world economy in 2008.
I like the Wolves chances this year and in the future, but the Eastern Conference is so much stronger than the West. If the Bucks have an Achilles Heel though, its the Pacers. They're the only team that can keep pace with the offense.
My theory has always been that Republicans were terrified of surpluses because if we didn’t have a debt, there was no reason to drown the government in the bathtub (per Norquist). Instead we could have invested in schools, healthcare, etc. which is anathema to the Republicans.
I don't know about terrified. Republicans always seemed to make the argument that if there was a surplus, people were being taxed too much and should be given tax relief. At least, that was how the argument went.
In fact, the Republican argument for everything is less taxes. Economy good? We can afford a tax cut. Economy bad? Stimulate the economy with a tax cut. Too much debt? A tax cut will pay for itself and lower the debt. Not enough debt? We have room under the debt limit, let's have a tax cut. It's their go to mantra.
The thing is, they always say this is "conservatism." In reality, its a recipe for anarchy and eventual oligarchy as government becomes weaker and weaker and unable to function. And then of course, if there is no government, what happens? Private enterprise and rich individuals get to make all the rules without any recourse or process.
Donald Trump and Joe Biden ended up at the same barber shop. As they sat there, each being worked on by a different barber, not a word was spoken. The barbers were both afraid to start a conversation, for fear that it would turn nasty. As the barbers finished their shaves in silence, the one who had Trump in his chair reached for the aftershave. But Donald was quick to stop him, jokingly saying, "No thanks. My wife, Melania, will smell that and think I've been in a brothel." The second barber turned to Joe and said, "How about you, Mr. Biden?" Biden replied, "Go right ahead, my wife, Jill, doesn't know what the inside of a brothel smells like."
Allow me to suggest people read this from Alan Greenspan in 2001.
"Of more relevance for the nearer term, current forecasts suggest that under a reasonably wide variety of possible tax and spending policies, the resulting surpluses will allow the Treasury debt held by the public to be paid off. Moreover, well before the debt is eliminated--indeed, possibly within a relatively few years--it may become difficult to further reduce outstanding debt to the public because the remaining obligations will mostly consist of savings bonds, well-entrenched holdings of long-term marketable debt, and perhaps other types of debt that could prove difficult to reduce. Whether economic developments and tax and budget choices will, in the end, produce surpluses of the order of magnitude currently projected is open to debate. But the probability of substantial continuing surpluses is sufficiently high to require that, at a minimum, we begin to address their potential implications for fiscal policy decisionmakers, financial markets, and the Federal Reserve."
This was the cover that the Bush II administration needed to push through tax cuts.
If we had actually paid off much of our debt we would be in a much better position right now.
And Greenspan was always a proponent of deficit spending, particularly with the Friedman approach that if you cut taxes, the subsequent stimulus pays for itself. Yeah, that actually never happens, and you can see how this fallacy caused him to be considered one of the architects of the Housing Bubble that crashed the world economy in 2008.
I hope you get some hate mail for that Bucks pick. Go Wolves!
I like the Wolves chances this year and in the future, but the Eastern Conference is so much stronger than the West. If the Bucks have an Achilles Heel though, its the Pacers. They're the only team that can keep pace with the offense.
Hopefully they get beat up in the East so they are worn down before we play them in the finals :D
I see a couple games against the Bucks scheduled in February. If you're around, let's meet up to watch at least one of those.
My theory has always been that Republicans were terrified of surpluses because if we didn’t have a debt, there was no reason to drown the government in the bathtub (per Norquist). Instead we could have invested in schools, healthcare, etc. which is anathema to the Republicans.
I don't know about terrified. Republicans always seemed to make the argument that if there was a surplus, people were being taxed too much and should be given tax relief. At least, that was how the argument went.
In fact, the Republican argument for everything is less taxes. Economy good? We can afford a tax cut. Economy bad? Stimulate the economy with a tax cut. Too much debt? A tax cut will pay for itself and lower the debt. Not enough debt? We have room under the debt limit, let's have a tax cut. It's their go to mantra.
The thing is, they always say this is "conservatism." In reality, its a recipe for anarchy and eventual oligarchy as government becomes weaker and weaker and unable to function. And then of course, if there is no government, what happens? Private enterprise and rich individuals get to make all the rules without any recourse or process.
Donald Trump and Joe Biden ended up at the same barber shop. As they sat there, each being worked on by a different barber, not a word was spoken. The barbers were both afraid to start a conversation, for fear that it would turn nasty. As the barbers finished their shaves in silence, the one who had Trump in his chair reached for the aftershave. But Donald was quick to stop him, jokingly saying, "No thanks. My wife, Melania, will smell that and think I've been in a brothel." The second barber turned to Joe and said, "How about you, Mr. Biden?" Biden replied, "Go right ahead, my wife, Jill, doesn't know what the inside of a brothel smells like."