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Strategies & Market Trends : Buy and Sell Signals, and Other Market Perspectives
SPY 691.72-0.1%Jan 16 4:00 PM EST

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To: ggersh who wrote (42381)12/21/2012 9:52:12 PM
From: PJr1 Recommendation  Read Replies (2) of 221975
 
Aha! Now you're beginning to illustrate why our elected officials can't come to a decision to cut spending. You're starting to deviate from what initially sounded like an agreement to reduce spending levels to precisely the levels during the Clinton years in exchange for a return to Clinton tax rates.

If we simply brought spending levels to the same proportionate levels that we had during the Clinton years, there might be a path to agreeing on raising taxes to Clinton levels. The problem is, we can't even agree to do that because some will say, in order to agree to the Clinton levels of spending we should reallocate how we spent the money during the Clinton years. Your preference seems to be to get back to those levels by reducing spending levels that went to the MIC during the Clinton years and redirect it to some other program or agency for which you have a preference. If you were truly happy with how slick the economy worked under Clinton, how about just agreeing to adjust the current spending levels to precisely the same relative amounts for each program/agency?

If you were pleased with the results during the Clinton years, then surely you wouldn't want to risk that agreement just because you have preferences to spend the same amount but with different priorities. Unfortunately, this is a perfect illustration of why there will never be consensus in Congress to do the right thing.

Sadly, once an agency or program run by the government gets an increase in funding, that agency or program will always claim that they can not survive a cut to their new level of funding. Witness the fact that we've spent literally trillions on the war on poverty and now have greater poverty levels than before we had such programs. We've increased our spending on education dramatically and have lower test scores and lower graduation rates than when we spent considerably less money on education. Yet some insist that we need to pay more for a government that delivers those kinds of results? I just find that logic incomprehensible ..... though I'd still agree to Clinton tax rates if we had Clinton spending levels.

The spending levels HAVE to be curtailed. No amount of new revenue can balance the budget against the levels of spending that we currently have. I'm afraid the balanced approach that we heard about during the campaign seems to have morphed into plans for higher taxes accompanied by higher spending levels. Remember, "temporary" spending to get us through tough times is the equivalent of "new" permanent levels of spending. No one is even capable of reducing what was envisioned as temporary spending in the fantasy land of DC. How much more proof do we need? Just what catastrophe will we require to happen before we recognize the destructive path upon which we are headed?

Pat
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