noname2200 said:
Granted that the national debt will pose a massive problem, but I see nothing about it that's not insurmountable. It's certainly been higher, both in relative and absolute terms (again, the 70's spring to mind). Note that under the Clinton Administration we were able to eliminate a national debt that was roughly on par with what we're now experiencing. Note also that we're currently spending tens of billions of dollars on Iraq: eliminating that revenue drain will prove to be a massive aid for combatting our national debt (although unfortunately the earliest that will happen is in mid-2009). No, the biggest problem we face does not have to do with energy (as you yourself addressed) or the national debt (not directly, anyways). Instead, our hurdle is the Baby Boomers, who are set to retire very, very soon in large numbers. Fortunately for us, we've been replenishing our population via immigration and the birth rate, so we won't be hit as hard as Japan or Europe in this regard. Unfortunately, politics being what it is, we're also committing massive amounts of resources towards the elderly already, and that commitment will only deepen as time goes on. In short, we have a political problem coming up very shortly. Fortunately, political problems can be fixed politically; tighten our belts appropriately, and the damage won't be overwhelming. I believe that the political capital required to do so won't show up for a few more years, unfortunately, but I do believe it will appear before the damage proves irreversible. |
You see that little dip in the 90's? That was how much of a difference Clinton was able to make. I blame politicians like Reagan (see the big jump for when he was president?) who would cut taxes until our country burned to the ground. Tax cuts will destroy this country's economy, you heard it here first.
We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers…Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls. The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. –Raoul Duke
It is hard to shed anything but crocodile tears over White House speechwriter Patrick Buchanan's tragic analysis of the Nixon debacle. "It's like Sisyphus," he said. "We rolled the rock all the way up the mountain...and it rolled right back down on us...." Neither Sisyphus nor the commander of the Light Brigade nor Pat Buchanan had the time or any real inclination to question what they were doing...a martyr, to the bitter end, to a "flawed" cause and a narrow, atavistic concept of conservative politics that has done more damage to itself and the country in less than six years than its liberal enemies could have done in two or three decades. -Hunter S. Thompson
