The Tory Party

Political Roundup

• India is doing more about climate change than we are. India, people!
• Oh, those tax and spend Democrats and those fiscally responsible Republicans. Waitaminnit:
  

  Hmm. I know you gotta account for inflation, and look at the debt as a percent of GDP and blah blah blah…
  

  Non-defense discretionary spending as percent of GDP

  2001 3.4 final budget under Bill Clinton

  2002 3.7 initial budget under George Bush
  2003 3.9
  2004 3.8
  2005 3.9
  2006 3.7
  2007 3.6
  2008 3.6

  Defense discretionary spending as percent of GDP

  2001 3.0 final budget under Bill Clinton

  2002 3.4 initial budget under George Bush
  2003 3.7
  2004 3.9
  2005 4.0
  2006 4.0
  2007 4.0
  2008 4.3

  Wait, that is SO WEIRD. It almost makes it look like George W. is spending more than Clinton. That is so super weird, because I remember George W. cutting taxes a whole bunch. How are we paying for all this? I’m not even starting to argue about what the US should be spending money on. We can safely agree that we ARE spending money — shouldn’t we be paying more taxes instead of going into debt?

  I’ll even take a totally non-cynical view of George W.’s tax cuts and say that their intent is purely to stoke the struggling economy. Do we think that’s going to work? What about our current money plan is going to change things for the future?

  • Taxpayers will spend it. They’ll buy a TV on Tuesday, which will be good for the store, distributor, and TV manufacturers on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday the money and its effects are gone. Nothing has changed systemically. It was just another bubble. God forbid the taxpayer spend their ‘extra’ money on personal debt, affecting the economy not at all.
  • The government is spending its money on today’s problems. That’s good, because today’s problems need attending to. Pro- or anti-war, as long as we have people over there, it is our responsibility to supply them. Pro- or anti-Medicare, as long as we have people relying on those services, it is our responsibility to supply them. But today’s problems are going to stay with us (even Jesus said so). The trick is planning for the future while working on the present. Maybe if we were going into debt

    (If I were feeling really nutty, I might structure an argument here about how having so many servicepeople overseas is bad for the economy. They’re not here designing, engineering, producing goods, or even consuming. They’re over there getting shot at. I mean, let’s toss aside talk about morality, humanity and foreign policy — let’s talk about MONEY!)

  • Conceivably the less-taxed corporations could pass the money on to consumers in the form of cheaper goods, or invest in new technologies to boost the future economy. Conceivably. But from what I can see of corporations, they seem to be oriented to maximizing profit in the short term. What company is going to invest thirty-million dollars in experimental research that might pay off in ten years when that money could be funneled directly to shareholders? And what fantastic-amazing board of directors would give the thumbs-up to that kind of investment? Do we want to stake our whole economic future on that possibility?
• US Lawmakers Invested in Iraq War – Ewwww. Ewwwwwww. Again, pro- or anti-war, I think we can agree that a senator voting to start a war and then trying to profit from it is just bad form. It seems like even baseline moral compunction would drive you to actively seek NOT to profit from a war you started. “Hey, wait — didn’t y’all just get a defense contract? Hrm. I think I should maybe NOT buy your stock. I dunno. Just feels weird.”
• A-a-a-and spent.