Not an Argument

As I said in another discussion, I'm looking for the first signs of "buyers remorse" in Obama voters I know, most of whom are incredibly uninformed about the world.

There are of course people, clueless about economic issues, who only voted for Obama as an anti-war statement. But now we find that is the only Bush policy he plans to leave untouched (for now).

On the other hand, I also know a left-wing economist who once said to me something along the lines of "damn you Republicans for engaging in a starve the beast policy of increased spending and lower taxes!"

Problem of course is that we are now set to triple our rate of spending (for PERMANENT programs that don't end as wars eventually do), and (ignoring the actual effect of tax rates on total income) somehow rely on a boom like has never been seen before to pay for it. I'd say at this point we aren't starving the beast, we are shooting him through the head, hanging him, and castrating him for good measure. Republican misdeeds (and certainly there were many) might not have been effective in reducing wasteful spending in government and (possibly) directing it to where it could do some good, but at least they slowed the inexorable growth of government down for a few years. No sign of that thinking in DC now!

Last I checked, economies were listed as chaotic systems, about as controllable as the weather. We of course can seed clouds and use umbrelas when we go outdoors, but no number of Excel spreadsheets can fathom it all because we don't have a clue about the "formulas" that control human desire to pay $79 for a $0.79 molded plastic shoe. You can only "control" economies by reducing them to dictatorships in which everyone either wears the state-sponsored clothing, or keeps the stuff they have from the '50s (ask a Cuban).

As Thompson said in that interview, we are headed for being a banana republic, and I suspect there are some among us who think they might actually enjoy such a thing, because they envision themselves as being the task-masters who are above it all. The reality of course is that the same back-stabbing scum who often rise to the top in corporations will do just fine in a Socialist state. Its the same game, with fewer players and very few checks and balances. I guess the only upside is that when you get caught puting poisons in your product for filler you have to hang yourself. Socialism rhymes with emotionalism, and is really all about entertainment.

Enjoy the show!