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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (15590)	3/31/2006 11:33:58 AM
From: Dale Baker	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 541957

A simple metaphor is smoking - unlikely to kill you this year or next or even in 5-10 years, but certainly a lethal risk if continued over long periods of time, based on available evidence. Countries who manage their national finances the way the US manages theirs historically end up in trouble, often a crisis. Saying so now while the crisis is not imminent but eventually likely is no more exaggerated than discussing the dangers of tobacco. According to your formulation we have to cater to the mistaken perceptions of the profligate perpetrators and bring them around to reason. That rarely works, because they are mistaken and profligate in the first place. Smoking was reduced in the US by taxing it and restricting it and shaming the hell out of people doing it. And that worked.