Just A Taste
Of Spring: Warm, sunny weather made a welcome (but too brief) visit this weekend. Friday's high at our weather station was 70, while yesterday's high hit 77. Today looks to be somewhere around 70 to 75, as cooler and wetter air returns tonight through next week.
This week's Hood River Weather poll question is specifically designed to make you crazy or at least irritated. Given the federal government's seeming inability to contain spending, is it better to match income to outgo (tax and spend), or to borrow against the national debt and let future generations deal with it (borrow and spend).
I deliberately left out more reasonable choices (like maybe control spending better?), since I just don't see the feds wanting or being able to do that any time soon.
I waver between the two bad choices, but lean more towards tax and spend. It seems a little more honest, at least as long as the level of taxing does not unduly strain people's and company's budgets. As a percentage of GDP (which is how deficit defenders typically justify national debt), total taxation in the US is way down on the list, 34th lowest out of 36 major countries.
On the other hand, I think most people prefer tax cuts and especially "free" rebates from the feds. There is something to be said for Keynesian economic theory that it is rightfully the government's job to stimulate the economy through deficit spending in times of economic slowdowns.
Unfortunately, the flip side of Keynesian theory is that the government should run a balanced budget or surplus the rest of the time. But that involves responsible balancing of taxing and spending and is no fun at all for politicians or their constituents (us).
The last time we even came close to having a balanced budget was during the Clinton presidency, where gridlock between the Democratic president and Republican congress helped keep the government from adding and expanding spending programs.
So maybe gridlock is the economic model we should be striving for? And what does that mean for the choices in the upcoming presidential election?
Larry, on your current poll we really need a 3rd option. Spend no more than was brought in the previous year. It is not that we have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem. Federal Tax revenue was the highest ever in 07. The budget grew by more than 6% last year, inflation of about 3% you can't spend more than you make. DAVE
ReplyDeleteI agree, there are solutions out there that don't require raising taxes or borrowing against the future, and the one you mention is a good one.
ReplyDeleteThe current poll was designed to force a choice between the two bad choices currently being used by the government. Democrats lean towards tax and spend, and Republicans towards borrow and spend.
As you mentioned, what the government needs to do is focus on ways to contain spending. I will probably have a future poll that focuses on those options.