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Politics : View from the Center and Left
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To: Dale Baker who wrote (15592)3/31/2006 11:54:44 AM
From: TimF  Read Replies (1) of 541945
 
Its a simple metaphor but I'm not sure its a good metaphor.

Perhaps a better metaphor might be when someone who used to be lean to average has put on about 20 lbs. If he keeps putting on the weight there could be big problems, and even being 10 to 20 lbs overweight isn't good for him, but severe consequences from being a bit overweight are not as likely as severe consequences from smoking.

If non-entitlement spending continues to grow the way it did in Bush's 1st term, and entitlements are not reformed then we might have a big problem but the problem would have more to do with the overall spending level then it would with the deficits. A large tax increase could reduce or eliminate the deficits but doesn't really make the problem go away.

According to your formulation we have to cater to the mistaken perceptions of the profligate perpetrators and bring them around to reason.

Not at all. The particular perception I was talking about was accurate. But perhaps we are talking about two different perceptions. The perception I was talking about was the idea that the deficit level is not all that unusual, and the the debt level is not unsustainable. Maybe you are talking about perceptions like "deficits don't matter" (under almost any circumstances, and no matter how high they are), or "It doesn't matter how large the national debt is." Those perceptions are IMO mistaken and not ones that we should cater to or support.

Tim
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