Brad DeLong: "As the late Milton Friedman liked to put it: to spend is to tax. If the government buys things, it must get the money to buy them from somewhere. It can get the money from three places. It can tax. It can borrow - but then the borrowing has to be repaid with interest, and the more is borrowed the higher the interest and the worse the value the taxpayers ultimately get for their money when they are taxed to repay the borrowing. Or it can print the money and so inflate the currency - but that too is a tax, and an especially unfair, painful, and destructive one, as lots and lots of people victimized by inflation find their wealth doesn't buy what it used to and what they expected."
Cam Riley: South Sea Republic. Freedom, liberty, equity and an Australian Republic.

Comments
  • adam . # . 1/1
    This "current policy plus Bush tax cuts" scenario has the federal government taxing about 20% of GDP over the next seventy-five years. It has the federal government forecast to spend 28% of GDP on average over the next seventy-five years.

    !

    I have not seen it put so brutally in black and white before.
    Give me utilitiy or give me something slightly better!
  • cam . # . 2/2
    That is why I think the 2008 election will be another blood-letting. People know that governance has been bad even if they cant put a solid finger on why. Democracy is wise and the mob can discern when things aren't right even if they can't voice it in 30 words or less.
    'Sworn to no party, and of no sect am I.' Frederick Vosper's republican motto.