Too dead on. Reagan cut taxes and the democrats then in charge of Congress reneged on their promise to cut spending. W cut taxes then got us into a war or two and then did Medicare plan D. Of course the democrats will never cut taxes unless it’s the so called Earned income Tax Credit which is just spending in disguise. Hell they even call no net growth above inflation a cut. There is no such thing as a deficit hawk anymore. The republicans have the spending flu as bad as the democrats. They just spend it on their constituents. It really comes down to two issues. First is the debt. How big will our creditors allow it to grow and long can we carry it. The $20 trillion number is only part of the real debt. We have unfunded liabilities in Social Security and other pension obligations that may double it soon. At this time we are and the dollar is the only place the world sees as secure. They will buy our debt as long as they see no better option. The second issue and only potential path to reduce the first is through growth in the economy. The economy needs to grow at at least a 3% rate to sustain or reduce the growth of the deficit and debt. This is what made the Gingrich program (that Clinton took and received credit for) erase the deficit in the 90’s. To get this we need to spend massively on infrastructure and encourage population growth.......mainly through immigration. Barring a major upheaval in technology such as happened in the 90’s that is the only path that will give us a chance.
We also need to spend more wisely. The government spends/wastes money like a drunk at a strip bar.....and gets similar results. We could reduce defense spending by 1/3 to 1/2 and have a better, stronger more effective military. We waste money on welfare because we don’t do anything to change the people on it, incentivize them to get off or prepare them to be able to. What a drain they are and what a boost they could give if they participated in our economy and society. We don’t spend enough on research and development like a serious space program and a serious high energy physics program. We don’t incentivize business to produce jobs, goods and services here. These are all paths we could take and investments we could make that would payoff in ways that we saw in the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s. Our economy and society is living on the fruits of that investment and we need to reinvest to bring in another crop. I believe spending isn’t as much of an issue as poor spending and wasteful spending is.
Certain states are spending on infrastructure and that is a great of place for it. States can attract growth. In a way, I don’t see immigration as a positive until they become legal.
Some things such as Interstate highways, FAA ATC, waterways such as the Mississippi, etc can only be done federally. There are many other similar infrastructure issues that are spread over several states requiring federal leadership. Of course local and state spending is required as well. I agree legal immigration is the most positive potential and that’s what I meant. However expanded rules for skilled and educated immigrants are desperately needed. Organic growth isn’t enough to feed our needs.
Wasteful spending is a joint partnership with big industry and local, state and federal government. For example, the infrastructure problems can be solved very quickly by starting another WPA. But that will NEVER happen. Industry lobbyists would have seizures if the system of letting of very lucrative contracts was bypassed...leaving them out. The politicians who directly or indirectly get wealthy by being influenced in the selection process would choke and die on their $80 porterhousess if the "wink, wink" RFP system was bypassed. Every pothole in New Orleans could be fixed in a year if the unemployed and homeless were hired by the federal government to become productive and respectful to repair the streets.
No one would want to become a mayor or city councilman because the contract letting business would be bypassed.
Here’s the problem though. In the corporate world you know how people cut costs and spending? They immediately cut headcount. This shit infuriated me to no end. Instead of looking at everything you spend, find the waste and eliminate it, cut bullshit and fluff and you can pretty much always find your desired cost savings or cut. But people are fucking lazy and don’t want to do the work. Perfect example, cost savings engineer comes to our site. First thing he says, I’m not here to cut headcount, what’s his reccommendation at the end of his visit. Cut head count. I wouldn’t be opposed to scaling back on government jobs but I think they have been steadily decreasing anyway.
