cradleandshoot wrote: ↑Tue Mar 29, 2022 8:17 am
MDlaxfan76 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 29, 2022 7:57 am
cradleandshoot wrote: ↑Tue Mar 29, 2022 7:47 am
MDlaxfan76 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 29, 2022 7:24 am
I see campaign slogans but no actual plan.
That may be a way to win elections, but certainly isn't responsible government...of course, the latter may well not be the objective for some.
" responsible government" now there is an oxymoron for you. Sort of like jumbo shrimp...
We are 30 trillion in debt. Responsible government is a ship that sailed decades ago.
mmm, by that I mean making well considered policy choices, not merely campaign slogans. That includes the relative usage of debt capacity or not. Debt in and of itself is not irresponsible, as long as the underlying assets are growing in the long term faster than the relative amount of debt.
Of course, that doesn't mean that some spending relative to taxation isn't irresponsible. It can be.
Being a fiscal conservative means to have a bias to being careful to not excessively spend more than the rate of growth in underlying assets, except in extreme situations, and to generally spend less than the rate of such growth when times are good. Conserve dry powder for those extreme times. They
will happen.
So the fact inflation is creeping ever forward makes all that spending even more irresponsible? What will it cost just to pay interest on our debt at 30 trillion if inflation increases 1%? I'm guessing you already know the answer. All the responsible government talk means nothing unless the government stops spending
I think you mean, if interest rates grow 1%?...inflation reduces the value of the debt, not increases it. But inflation draws monetary response, so interest rates...
But sure, it's darn costly to service debt. One would rather have less. But we have wars, and pandemics, and recessions...and we
should build bridges! Indeed whatever undergirds the success of our system.
But the way to think about all this (at least as a fiscal conservative) is whether the spending we do contributes to the social and physical underpinning of an economy, and the underlying "asset value", of that economy faster than its cost, over an extended period of time? And then, sharpening the pencil further, are these the
best spending priorities to accomplish that objective?
We spend on many different things, both domestically and internationally, so as to have a functioning civil society and world that supports the ongoing increase in standard of living. Are these the best, most effective ways to spend resources?
Responsible governing weighs thoughtfully among various choices...it's not a red meat campaign slogan.