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That 1942 book I'm reading on measures verging on the extreme to fund the war effort includes deficits and debt and it has me thinking of something conspiracist and even multi-factorial that I'm surprised I haven't heard yet on lefty talk radio given how so many of the participants spout such worthless nonsense and that they hate Reagan as well as Bush sometimes, to this day.
Democrats appeal the most to the most base of instincts and sentiments. This includes instant rather than deferred gratification insofar as government benefits and entitlements are concerned. Their typical way is to appeal to envy and other shortcomings and state that Someone Else will pay for whatever you want.
Republicans in large part since 1980 have approached this in the other way. They have “removed the negative,” appealing to the inherent procrastinator in all of us. They postpone the unpleasant. Namely, they defer taxes by resorting to borrowing to accomplish the lavish spending and provision of benefits that childlike people demand. They have frequently also engaged in deficit spending, but financed by borrowing, which until the 1980s was seen as meant for temporary or urgent measures only.
But is that all?
I addressed once an error recently in what someone wrote about federal debt, that it's something that “we owe to ourselves.” As I pointed out, the “we” borrowers are not the same as those being paid interest on the debt; the “ourselves” are not the same thing.
As this 1942 book points out, the debt achieves a long-term transfer of income from all citizens to those holding the bonds, which are higher-income individuals.
I'm surprised more hasn't been said about this.
There are other, related things — adding debt when it's not needed interferes with future issues of debt and makes debt and eventually spending inhibited, which may be another motive behind the GOP “strategy.” But the main thing is that there is an income transfer at work here. I don't know how much intention there is for such a transfer versus merely exploiting the ignorant (we can do it, too, Demmies!) but cynical Republicans must be taking that income transfer (which can be multi-generational) into consideration as part of their fiscal policy.
Have a pleasant day.
Regarding the “cartoon” – the expression on the Bush character's face suggests a person who is oblivious to all that red stuff. In a sense I believe it's a fair portrayal of a man who has a limited connection to his conscience – which is to say, he may well not even know he has blood on his hands, except perhaps in an abstract sense whereby said blood is justified based on his own bizarre concept of “patriotism”. That said, I imagine he's looking forward to going back to Crawford Co. and cutting brush.
The absolutely mindless spending frenzy by Bush and his GOP colleagues was horrific. The reason I cannot get behind Obama is not because he is what I perceive as a far left liberal trying to hide his colors for votes, but because he has not indicated he will balance the budget and in fact simply comes out saying he will raise taxes on the rich and give it back to the middle and lower classes. That does not bother me but the over riding thought process of my selection for president and local reps is fiscal responsibility.
Balance the budget, pay down the debt and then go from there…..if that takes 15 years then so be it. America will be far and away the stronger nation for it.
Demand it of your representatives. Dont be lured by a spending frenzy that just redirects who gets the money. We must balance the budget and pay down the debt. NOW.