printThe following is from “Dead-End Debt Debate,” now on WND.COM:
“The economy is in advanced stages of decrepitude due to debt: public and private. Nevertheless, a just-released ABC News/Washington Post poll revealed that 58 percent of self-identified Republicans believe that if their government doesn’t continue to borrow apace, things will get worse.
In legislative language, our wily political pitch men have been granted license to lift the debt ceiling! Quick-fix quacks in both chambers can now proceed to borrow by further inflating the country’s fiat money supply.
Duly, two broad plans have been hatched. These schemes are aimed at saving financial face, more than slashing spending or trimming America’s gargantuan government. To listen to this school of scoundrels – represented by statists from different corners of the political boxing ring, from Fox News’ Stuart Varney to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow – not to raise the debt ceiling is plain unpatriotic. … Needless to say that, “Cross-party consensus results when political expediency trumps principle.” …
The complete column is “Dead-End Debt Debate,” now on WND.COM:
My new book, “Into the Cannibal’s Pot: Lessons for America from Post-Apartheid South Africa,” is available from Amazon.
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A good way to help this work’s mission, and raise awareness of the issues covered in depth and detail in the book, is to post your reviews to Amazon. You don’t have to have purchased the book from Amazon to review it on the site.
Upcoming Mercer media appearances are here. I’ll be talking with Chuck Wilder of “Talk Back” tomorrow, Friday, July 22, from 12:40PM until 1:00PM Pacific
Let’s just PRINT our way to prosperity?
Please visit the LINK and forward it to your Congressional Reps and Senators. Even if they do not understand what they are doing to us, show them you understand and that they will pay the price in 2012.
http://mises.org/daily/5420/The-Liquidation-Phase-and-Profit-Margins
When is the American public going to come to the realization that all the big problems facing us just get bigger and more confusing when our political leaders in Washington get involved. No dilemma gets solved. They just get more complicated and expensive. We need oil. As long as I can remember a controlling faction in our government has stopped us from drilling and we have stood by. We don’t like it but we do nothing but protest. Most of us believe man made global warming is a hoax but because the audiences on Oprah and Letterman don’t agree we stand by while government still persists. Most of us didn’t want Obamacare but we got by hook or crook. Mostly crook. On the Nature channel I see Wildebeest bulls pawing with their hooves and threatening with their horns but the lions just laugh and eat the luckless beestie or else he runs away. That’s the way the lions of government look at us. I for one am sick of it.
An outstanding article, Ilana.
Your economic argument — and Ron Paul’s — is correct, but it begs the question: How do we peacefully reform a society wherein statism and Marxism have become entrenched in the popular culture if not by political means?
Yes, clear-thinking, classical liberal commentators like you are essential to educating a wayward populace. But Ron Paul is a Congressman not a pundit.
Although Ron Paul opposes “Cut, Cap and Balance,” Rand Paul endorses it, not because it is the “perfect,” but because it is the “good.”
If Ron Paul’s ideological principles are so inviolate that they prevent him from choosing sides in this political fight, then perhaps it is well that he is retiring from politics. He’s always been more effective as an educator than a politician anyway.
Titanic America has finally “spotted” the iceberg (we probably don’t hit it for another 5 to 10 years). We had a slim chance to avert this disaster in 2000 when Clinton nearly “balanced” the budget but then Bush and his master Dick “deficits don’t matter” Cheney
did 4 really stupid things:
[1] Minor stupid – lower taxes that were probably needed to “politically” transition away from Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid dependency
[2] Major stupid – Start wars on Iraqis, Afghans, traveling Americans, etc. and other wasteful spending
[3] Bonus stupidity – encouraging the Federal Reserve Fannie Fredding Bankster Housing Bubble
[4] Colossal stupid – Add new burdens to Medicare/Medicaid
The easy things to cut (which are not being done) are agribusiness, HuD, Education, NASA, and Warfare. The harder one is Social Security. And the 900 lb debt gorilla is Medicare/Medicaid – yes “we” can put a “man on the moon” and we can keep one old lady alive on a machine for years but we cannot keep 100,000,000 elderly around for decades on non-existent money!
A credit-card Democracy, addicted to living beyond its means, is not going to solve this. This budget is so out of alignment, it is tragic – ICEBERG AHEAD!
When Nixon took us off the gold standard, public debt became the new political candy; however, we were addicted to socialism a long time before that. Price supports, subsidies, unions, Central banking, minimum wage laws, strikes with government mediation. Our move to national taxation in 1913 or 16; with the government entering the business world and regulating everything from beginning to end at the same time raised inflation continuously War has became standard. We speak of government taxes as if they were only on income; however, there isn’t anything in the US that isn’t taxed today. Some items are taxed at the raw production level, then at shipping (47 cents a gallon of gas five years ago,) manufacturing and, wholesale and retail levels are also taxed, including the wages of all people involved. Companies began looking at the world to get away from excessive regulation and tax. Debt is only one part of the problem. If we cut debt in half, we would still be in trouble; because we still have all the other things that kneecap us.
Bob Schaefer: There are basically no “sides” in this so-called political fight (farce). Between TARP and TARP? Between Romneycare and Obamacare? Between Leaving No Child Behind and Leaving No Child Behind – Dream Downpayments and Dream Downpayments, etc…. The Democrats and Republicans are two rival dope peddlers working the general public with “borrow and spend” promises of a low-cost Welfare-Warfare state that is, fundamentally, unsustainable in the long haul.
You might claim to observe some great difference between the Democrats and Republicans but I think it is a flea
that got stuck on the lens of the microscope!
There is no “great difference” between the political philosophy of Marco Rubio and Barney Frank?
Those who dismiss the efficacy of the political process better “lock and load” for the “political fight” is sure to be carried to the streets sooner than they think.
Bob Schaefer: Perhaps Republican “hot air” sounds better than Democratic “hot air” but I remember Nixon denouncing the Great Society in 1968 only to put on even MORE affirmative action, OSHA, EPA, Wage and Price Controls, take us off the Gold Standard, and numerous other hypocricies.
When I compare the actual spending and deficit records of “liberal” Clinton with “conservative” Bush, I am reminded of the Book of Matthew Chapter 21 verses 28 – 31:
http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew-Chapter-21/
When Republicans actually CUT government (probably when pigs fly!!), – instead of bellyaching about Democratic “waste” – wake me up!!
Here’s some homework:
1. Research M1, M2, M3 Historical Levels for past 20 years and graph each level.
2. If available, do the same for the U.S. Gold Reserves for the same time period.
3. Research price of 1991 basic Ford Mustang and compare to 2011 basic Ford Mustang price.
4. Research and compare your local university’s fee per credit hour, in state, in 1991 vs 2011.
Get the picture? We cannot compete with the Government’s printing presses.