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

To: epicure who wrote (103292)	2/5/2009 10:24:01 PM
From: Dale Baker	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 542023

I'm afraid no one really knows what they are doing here, or what the consequences of inaction are. Sometimes systems are just too complex- this is probably one of those times. Bingo, that's the 800-pound gorilla sitting next to all of us on the sofa that no one wants to acknowledge. So the whole issue has become a giant movie screen for each poster and pundit to project their own ideological biases on. Anyone who thinks they KNOW what is happening and exactly what's needed to fix it is deluding themselves. Best we can do is a package of different ideas to see what works, then tweak it as we go along. It won't be pretty or tidy, but hopefully something will work. All the other elaborate analyses are navel-gazing as an Olympic sport.

To: epicure who wrote (103292)	2/6/2009 1:47:17 PM
From: Win Smith	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 542023

I always wondered about that. My understanding is most states are obligated to balance their budgets, so that when the economy goes south and revenues decline, they have to cut spending just at the time when stimulus is needed. So state spending tends to amplify the business cycle instead of smoothing it out. In a perfect world, states would build up a reserve in flush times. In the world we live in, of course, anytime anything like a reserve appears, tax cuts are mandatory. I think it's all part of the miracle of supply-side economics. Artie Laffer's napkin lives!