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January 25, 2008

Comments

What evidence is there that democrats perform any better than republicans or the other way around? Most candidates on either side are flawed, corrupt, dishonest, beholden to special interests and helpless in a mess nobody understands although they pay lip service to knowing otherwise.

They are motivated by power. Who, in their right mind, would want the burden of the presidency if power wasn't their goal? Who knows what any candidate really wants to do, their motivations, capabilities, and potential reactions to what is presented to them in office?

All candidates spout dialog planned by their focus groups geared to their current target audience. That is why they perpetually contradict themselves. It is all calculated. All you hear is BS and rhetoric. It means nothing. Has any candidate in any election not been in favor of change? Yet the same crap keeps going on.

It takes years for some economic actions to reflect in the economy. Surpluses in the Clinton administration reflect policies set in motion years before he got in office.

But this is the system we have and we have to do the best we can with it. Who to vote for? Hell if I know, but I will go on a gut feeling based on the candidate that APPEARS to best support values that I have.

Good post on voodoo economics and too bad that so many people are like those in the Emperor's New Clothes. They want to believe the lies because it is somehow comfortable or they think they profit from it. The ordinary person did not with the tax cuts but you can't convince them that their pennies were really important to them as they are now going to be convinced a rebate will fix the economy. It's scary for what will come next when the time comes when the lies can no longer be hidden. It might be sooner than we think.

Brian wrote: "I was right. Reputable economic research doesn't support the ridiculous notion that cutting government revenues somehow increases government revenues."

My response: And why should increasing government revenues increase government revenues..in the long run?

The more government takes from the entrepeneur, who ultimately generates the revenues government takes, the more he is inhibited from expanding his operations, employment, and thus, government revenues shrink... in the long run. If there are expanded operations, the tax rate can be less and still generate more revenue because there are more people making more money to tax. Not only that, if more product is being produced, and more people have more money to buy it, the economy thrives and expands.

$10,000 x 2 = $20,000 x tax rate of 15% = revenue of $3000.

$10,000 x 4 = $40,000 x tax rate of 10% = revenue of $4000.

So, if an entrepeneur can afford, due to lower taxes, to expand his business and employ more people then there will be greater revenue. And if the employees have more disposable income, the cycle will continue generating more income, employment and prosperity.

The problem with the necessity for economies to expand in order to avoid recessions and loss of revenues is the effect on the environment. More business growth and consumption = more waste and stress on the environment.

Through innovation brought about by incentive to profit, it is possible that technologies may emerge that make it possible to expand with less environmental impact. However, stuff is stuff and it has to go somewhere. More stuff, more waste.

Ten Toyota Priuses on the road is worse than four Chevrolet Suburbans because even though the Priuses burn half the fuel, there are more than twice the resources used to produce them. Aside from the sheet metal and plastic, look into the environmental effect of producing the nickel batteries in a Prius and you will shudder. This is not a solution. Keep the old gas guzzlers running indefinitely and you protect the environment more than producing millions of new hybrids.

I drive a '91 Chevrolet Blazer which I bought used in '92. It gets 12 mpg on a good day. But who has been harder on the environment and spent more money overall..me or the person who has gone through three new economy cars in those years?

Also, one time a guy misjudged a turn, went too wide and hit the Blazer sort of head-on. He was in a Honda Civic. His airbag went off, broke his nose and drove a piece of his glasses into his scalp. The front end of the Civic was completely crushed and totalled. My Blazer had a dent on the bumper and some scratched paint. I was uninjured. I ain't braggin', just makin' a point.

Indigenous people thrived for millenia with minimal impact on the environment. Now that they are nearly gone, what damage and blight has been left behind? A few moss-covered mounds, piles of rocks, clay pot shards and arrowheads, that's all.

If our civilization were to die today, what would remain? Millions upon millions of hectares covered with junk that has a molecular half-life of 100,000 to 1,000,000 years.

Are we any happier than they? Are our lives more peaceful and fulfilled? Sometimes. Sometimes not. I'm not sure we have gained much from civilization except more efficient methods to deal with toothaches and ways to prolong old age (which is no picnic any way you slice it) an extra decade or so.

We need a new paradigm and I have no answers for what to do about it. The wheels have been set in motion. Let nature take its course, I guess.

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