[Rhodes22-list] Quote without comment

[Brad Haslett]

Rob,

Let's run through this again, and I'll type s-l-o-w-l-y this time.
Comparing national debt numbers without using inflation adjusted dollars is
meaningless.  Using debt as a percentage of GDP is more rational.  Example -
I probably owe ten times more debt than my father did at my age.  Should
this be of concern?  No, 2008 dollars are not the same as 1972 dollars, and
besides, my income is more than ten times my father's in 1972.  The federal
budget is a joint responsibility between the Congress and the President.
Trying to pin any one group of numbers on one branch without looking at the
other branches actions is foolish.  The largest component of the federal
budget is entitlement spending with Social Security and Medicare being the
largest  by a wide margin.  Defense spending follows.  Bush 43 did nothing
to reign-in entitlement spending, in fact, he expanded it.  Expanding the
military and homeland defense after 9/11 also added immensely to spending.
The detractors of the current administration would like to spin the
narrative that higher taxes and less defense spending would substantially
reduce the national debt.  Maybe, maybe not.  There is a "sweet spot" for
taxation rates where higher marginal rates slows down the economy and has a
negative effect on GDP.  Where is that "sweet spot"?  I don't know and
neither did JFK but he understood that 90% was too high and Ronald Reagan
thought 70% was too high.  Both were proven correct.  The "elephant in the
room" is entitlement spending, and if or until we recognize that issue and
deal with it, this is an exercise in mental masturbation.

BTW, I really like Bill and have a great deal of respect for he and Diane.
That doesn't mean he's beyond playing games with numbers  just for fun.

Brad

On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 12:44 PM, Rob Lowe <rlowe at vt.edu> wrote:

> Since Bill Effros dropped off the list, we've been without our periodic
> Quote without Comments.  For anyone new, see:
>
> http://www.quotewithoutcomment.com/
>
> this is paraphrased from Sunday's Doonesbury.  I have not checked the
> accuracy.
>
>
> Since 1776, the US has accumulated a national debt of over $9 trillion,
> over 1/2 or which was incurred when a Bush was on watch.
> If you included Ronald Regan, fully 70% of the debt was created under just
> these three Republican presidents.
>
> - rob
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