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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs
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To: TimF who wrote (26400)2/25/2008 3:03:51 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof  Read Replies (1) of 71588
 
I only observed that there are *effective upper limits* on the amount a government can spend in the long-run (because the impossibility of having taxes at or very near to 100% of national product provides the upper limit on the government's 'take' from any economy....)

That, of course is using the exact same economic metric (percent of GNP) that you yourself have endorsed so many times whenever in a discussion about federal deficits. <g>

I (AGREEING with the comments you have posted so many times!) am with you that 'percent of national product' is the FAR SUPERIOR WAY to measure such things... and that mere projections of NOMINAL (i.e., non-inflation-adjusted numbers) are essentially MEANINGLESS THINGS when the timelines under discussion are very long... (as your "centuries" surely is!)... because of government's great propensity to run continual deficits, continually degrade the fiat currencies they print, and otherwise add zero after zero at the end of the denominations they are printing because of the degradation in buying power.

I also commented that it was near a practical impossibility that "The programs [Social Security, etc.] could continue over centuries" in a totally UNALTERED state from what they are now.... (Also rendering a bit silly projections in 'nominal dollars' about 'what they will cost' some 200 years PLUS from now.... :-)
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