This column is an example of why I’m a Samuelson fan.
Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011
Bye-bye Keynes?
By Robert J. Samuelson - Washington Post
I think he makes his key point exceptionally well: our failure to address the budget deficits risks abrupt increases in interest rates and crippling government austerity, just as in Greece but magnified.
Greeks and others object to losing their benefits and insist that government simply refuse to pay its debts in the delusional belief that they can then go back to borrowing more to fund life as they’ve known it. These folks are completely ignorant of the worldwide ramifications that would follow a default and the far worse calamity that would then fall on them.
Yet we Americans are going down the same path. Those that can form a preference for either political Party amaze me. The solutions are simple enough:
· Throw the bums out until they finally get the message – the President in particular must be held to account for his failure to lead.
· Government is too big; we must demand that it do less. The federal bureaucracy is beyond bloated, corrupt, redundant and wasteful – reform is overdue.
· We must pay for the services we demand. Listen up greedy seniors.
· We must have a safety net and while entitlements are out of control, our safety net has too many holes.
· Taxes must go up. The best way is to eliminate all exemptions and expand the base – that means everybody pays something and certainly the rich pay more.
· Never forget that after we pay more to get the services we want, then we’ll have to pay off our debt – the longer we wait, the more we’ll pay.
Anyone that is comfortable with passing our debt to future generations should become Soylent Green without delay.
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