[Rhodes22-list] The "Unifier" finally delivers

[Herb Parsons]

Excuse me Pete, the government IS responsible for troops, their NOT 
responsible for my mother's medicine. I don't want a socialist country. 
I'll take care of my mother, you take care of yours.

petelargo wrote:
> PS: Pay no attention to the 4 billion dollars a month Iraq war effort when
> your mom needs her meds. Re-framing and justifying the "debt" is not the
> conservatism I believe in. The 'detractors' now include 81% of all women and
> men, republican and democrat, that no longer believe the country is headed
> in the right direction. Mr. W finally unified the country. The choice
> couldn't be clearer.  If you think we are on the right path, you certainly
> know who to vote for. 
>
>
>
> Brad Haslett-2 wrote:
>   
>> 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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>>>
>>>       
>> __________________________________________________
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>>
>>     
>
>