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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (25644)2/4/2008 3:12:13 PM
From: TimF  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 71588
 
"...than even endless deficits aren't all that problematic."

That, of course, *is* the Big Government modern Liberal position.


Nope.

Deficits say nothing about the size of the government.

Spending of X with a deficit of Y concerns me more than spending of 2X with a deficit of 1/2Y, or spending of 3X with no deficit.

Also note that "endless deficits", doesn't necessarily mean "endless large deficits", or even "endless moderately sized deficits".

To some extent deficit spending helps increase the size of government (if you have constant income but you also borrow, you spend more than if you didn't borrow), but OTOH tax cuts, even if they cause deficits don't increase the size of government. In any case I am posting about the direct, or intrinsic, or almost inevitable results of deficits, and in that context the total level of spending is not a directly dependent variable.



To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (25644)2/4/2008 4:22:25 PM
From: Peter Dierks  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 71588
 
"there are also very REAL COSTS ... to such a free and easy fiat money policy...."

Things that are good in moderation can be highly deleterious when taken to excess. IMHO the US budget deficit is excessive. The only way to control budgets is through spending restraint.