Short article from former Bush administration writer Frum at Daily Beast that is way out of paradigm.
Frum is often held out as a voice of moderation from the political right but he is still as ignorant and blind as the most ardent Tea Party person when it comes to recognition of our government's absolute fiscal authority.
More than a century ago, Otto von Bismarck offered a grim assessment of those whose fears of a crisis to come lead them to precipitate a crisis now: it is, he said, like committing suicide for fear of death. [Ed: OK that's a good one.. but it stops right there.]
There is always a limit to what government can do to accelerate growth and encourage hiring. Whatever that limit, though, it’s surely somewhere north of where we stand now. [Ed: yes Frum there is a limit and the limit is always the REAL one, but you write as though our government has FINANCIAL limits... which is absurd for a country that issues it's own state currency for provision.]
Republicans say, “We don’t have a tax problem. We have a spending problem.” We can be more specific: we don’t have a spending problem. We have a health-spending problem. The United States spends 60 percent more per person on health care than the typical developed world country. [Ed: Sounds like Frum would get along well with the disgraced "Death Panel" Rattner from the "Fix the Debt" moron club.]
But symbolic tax increases hardly begin to cover the real costs of government. We’re not going to pay for the government we’ve already bought—never mind the fast-rising costs of Obamacare—by trying to squeeze more and more out of the small percentage of couples who earn more than $450,000 and individuals who earn more than $400,000. [Ed: More out of paradigm swill from Frum here as though government has to get it's own money from the non-government.]
The deal is founded on a fantasy that the rising costs of the services we all use can be met by tax increases only on the tiniest minority among us. [Ed: No the deal is founded on the fantasy that our own currency issuing government Treasury has to "get the money" from the taxpayers or borrow it from same.]If Frum represents the best the GOP moderate wing has to offer then they are in big trouble.
There is no resultant mathematical difference between Frum's view on fiscal authority versus Grover Norquist's or take your pick of the most zealous Tea Party idiot's view of government fiscal authority.
That result in all cases is a moron-induced austerity for the U.S.A.
So, if in avoiding the "fiscal cliff" we have "flinched from suicide" we may be still losing our balance and falling off the bridge anyway if we listen to morons like David Frum who has no view of our government's fiscal authority.
Keep up the great work Matt! :) As a regular visitor to this blog I always find interesting your posts about the Roman coin hoards. Keep shining the light :).
ReplyDeletecorporate elites who take all he profits and gut the american way of life , also hide by "Decsision by committee" so DOJ , FBI etc all have the same lame excuse, no one person to single out to make the wrong doers, (law breakers) pay for their crimes. SO invoke the RICO laws and take the banksters to task. If something like this doesn't happen the society will collapse just like the Roman Empire, when the republic elites take care of their own at the expense of the goose that laid the golden egg. If you hate labor you hate america.Now the saying is if you dont steal you will be left out, this is a short lived situation.
ReplyDeleteTim,
ReplyDeleteI do a google alert on the news on those coin finds and put them up as they are revealed... I hope just seeing these old physical coins may somehow help people physically see what we once did and then they can abstract the concept to our present institutional approach..
Bob,
No doubt the fraudsters should be sent to GITMO...
But as far as these corporate elites, they are all morons...
There is a big push from them for "tax reform" right now where they want the corporate tax rate cut... while at the same time advocating for us to "get our fiscal house in order"....
these morons dont even know what the hell is going on....
Go ahead and cut the corporate tax rate to zero for all I care... if the govt does not adequately provide regular flows of $NFA to the non-govt sector, WE ARE STILL GOING DOWN it is a mathematical certainty....
they are disgraced and cant even figure this out.... they are some of the biggest dopes in the history of western civilization and they are running everything right now...
this is definitely scary to think about as far as if we are going to be able to turn this around or where it may lead us today...
rsp,
Frum is correct in a sense that the issue is inordinate spending per person on health care in comparison with other developed countries — and getting a worse result.
ReplyDeleteThe obvious solution is to look at what they are doing and emulate it. But would mean "socializing" health care as the most effective and efficient means of managing it. So Frum and the GOP are not likely to bring that up since it contradicts the "superiority of the market" narrative they pitch relentlessly regardless of contradictory facts.
FED printing money will create a problem only because money being printed stays in the hands of a small circle and doesn’t trickle down and that widens the income gap that is sure to cause a depression as in 1932. Answer is to find a way to get the money to the Middleclass in order to increase aggregate demand to lift the economy out of the recession. As long as the Middleclass does not spend and save we cannot come of the recession.
ReplyDelete