... at least our modern wealth has been.
Borrowing is the spending of future income to pay for current expenses. Debt, then, is the indentured servitude of the future. Government debt, particularly of the size of ours, fits Abraham Lincoln's definition of slavery, which went something like*: You work and I spend.
Yesterday, I tried to listen to a discussion between Jordan Peterson and Douglas Murray and one between Andrew Klavan and Ross Douthat. Both covered the same ground - we've lost our way, in part, because we're so wealthy. We don't have societal meaning to our lives because all the big things are done.
Balderdash.
All the big things only look like they're done because we've enslaved our grade schoolers with $28T of debt, not counting all of the state-level unfunded pension liabilities, college loans and so forth. If you simply balanced the budget, which would require spending at least a trillion less than we do now, you'd live in a very different country. You'd see a whole new set of needs.
You'd get purpose back in a hurry.
We're not as wealthy as we think we are. It's all an illusion.
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| It's not real. |
* - I don't have time to look it up this morning as I need to go make biscuits and gravy to bring in as a treat for my coworkers.
1 comment:
You know, KT, back before 2016, you regularly wrote things along these lines. And I agreed with you. To the extent that there was a disagreement, I felt that the expenditures should be cut before cutting taxes, where you seemed to prefer to cut taxes and expenditures simultaneously.
But then something happened. The Republicans, who had been campaigning on balancing the budget for years, got completely into power in 2016, and were in a position to do something about it. But, then they just . . . didn't.
And, for reasons that I can't understand, you apparently decided to just let it kind of slide. You didn't write anything calling for them to live up to their promises, and you acted as if you approved of them cutting taxes without also cutting expenditures. Which, no matter how I look at it, is insane. And whenever I pointed this out, your responses felt like "Oh, well, what can you do", rather than being deeply incensed about being backstabbed (which is how I feel about it).
And now, the Republicans have been out of power for oh, lets see, about 7 days, and it is as if you're suddenly remembering that you are against the Deficit, that you hate the Federal Debt, and it is going to Destroy us All.
Well, OK, fine. The deficit and debt are still a problem, and maybe with the Democrats in power, the Republicans can actually be motivated to keep after them to do something about it, like they did back in the Clinton administration. I'm fine with that, although I'm afraid the Republicans may have blown their credibility so badly on the issue that it is going to be really hard for them to get people to listen. But, for crying out loud, if the Republicans Do get completely back into power in the next four years, could you at least have the decency to help keep their feet to the fire rather than giving them a pass like this?
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