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Politics : Politics of Energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (10783)	7/7/2009 4:52:51 AM
From: Bearcatbob	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 86355

"And right now we face the decision as to whether the government is the best entity to determine how human labor resources should be allocated, or the private market. And I'm not going to pretend that the answer is either easy, or that I possess it. But if it involves keeping the human capital that is our nation occupied and productive, then we're on the right track." I will be pretentious - I do know - markets are the best. Regulation should be such that facilitate markets - not define markets. The US has a growing population. We need a growth economy. Name one welfare state that hasa accomplished that. As we proceed down the current path the only answer will be a drastic reduction in military spending. No welfare state has maintained a large military. bob

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (10783)	7/7/2009 12:28:14 PM
From: RetiredNow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 86355

I think you have it right. In the middle of all these cries of Obama being a socialist, the fact is that our US government is right now acting as a lender of last resort. That is precisely the function you want your government involved in in crises of this magnitude. They are providing both the fuel and the spark to get the fire going again. Had they not stepped in, we would have been faced with another Great Depression. We may still yet see that, unless the stimulus money (most of which will be spent in the next 12 mos) can kick start the economy again. Everyone forgets, but it was the massive government spending and government employment of WWII that got us out of the Great Depression. It added debt too, but that debt was worked off and ameliorated by massive economic growth after WWII.