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I confused, is that a no that we should strive for surplus budgets to pay off debt or... well what?
We are not in a position to balance the budget and start paying off our debts not even close. Yes we should do that but we need to get there first. We need real job growth.
Would be a REALLY Good Time to put a 50 cent of more Gas / Diesel tax on to pay down the Bush Wars and the Recovery/Bailouts.
How about use a 50 cent tax to reduce SS withholding instead? Da guberment has all the money it needs since it creates on computers. We don't need to save human labor, which spoils faster then strawberries, but we do want to encourage people to save what we cannot create on computers, doesn't spoil, and cannot be manufactured.
We are not in a position to balance the budget and start paying off our debts not even close. Yes we should do that but we need to get there first. We need real job growth.
We will never be in a position to balance the budget because we always need to print some money. ...unless we want a depression... which if we do then at least is consistent with the plan. However this time could we no just give money to the very wealthy to make sure they can buy everything up cheap?
We will never be in a position to balance the budget because we always need to print some money. ...unless we want a depression... which if we do then at least is consistent with the plan. However this time could we no just give money to the very wealthy to make sure they can buy everything up cheap?
I'd say we are in one now. Use QE to take the place of an unbalanced budget.
I am not even sure what to call the last program they ran. Its more akin to monetarism, but something I would call interventionist monetarism. They didn't let the well run banks take over with cooperative monetary policy. They bailed out the badly run banks with TARP and turned the Fed into a housing speculator willing to buy anything while allowing the housing market to monopolistically consolidate for a triple whammy in phony capital creation to prop up the banking industry. Don't tell me they paid anything back. Did I pay you back if I had movie ticket and you had to buy it from me for a $100 because the Fed bought up all the other seats?
What the hell is that? Marxist-Monetarism-Fraudulent perhaps?
So instead of Keynesian style white elephants we have housing white elephants. FDR never came close to misallocation at that scale.
"What the hell is that? Marxist-Monetarism-Fraudulent perhaps?"
Well it sure as hell wasn't Marxian, otherwise we'd the name would be U.S. Goldman Sachs Financial Agency.
QE causes stagflation, which could cause a depression were it not for the automatic stabilizers in our budget. So its perma stagflation IMHO
The cure for economic depression is wage driven inflation. Up the interest rates to shut down the inflation and drive prices higher with wages. Not just here but world wide.
How about use a 50 cent tax to reduce SS withholding instead? Da guberment has all the money it needs since it creates on computers. We don't need to save human labor, which spoils faster then strawberries, but we do want to encourage people to save what we cannot create on computers, doesn't spoil, and cannot be manufactured.
I guess we know it is all kind of one big pot that gets looted back-and-forth, but I would be loathe to even breath at SS. If SS needed funding . . . Maybe expand the upper limit of SS. Maybe include Unearned Income, and make it subject to SS. But I would NOT mix "sources" of funding nor rates. You are messing in Belief Systems. Folks believe that they have/are paid, and yadda, yadda, yadda. The Power of Believe is very strong. Do not mess with that.
But the current low prices on fuels risk eventual additional use. Since the "American Oil from American Soil" is just a myth, and we are still importing nearly half our Oil, we as a nation, lose money on every tank, no matter how cheap it is. Since additional use will lead to additional loss, less Oil burned is better.
(US/Canada Unconventional Oil is going broke at just over 50% US Production compared to US Consumption, because it saturates the world market -- and No, Saudi is not trying to break US, we broke ourselves).
To pay 50 cents (or whatever) right now, with Cheap Oil is pretty easy on everyone. I suppose Ethanol and E-85 could be exempted, as it is a minor portion of the overall sales, and very little is imported.
There was at least a Trillion socked on US from the Bush Wars, and likely another Trillion from the Recovery/Bailouts. Targeting something real is an achievable goal. (not an endless cycle like SS is -- and SS is supposed to be part of an endless cycle)
Once those are paid down in a few years, and Oil is heading back up, the Temp Tax can be pulled off.
I know none of this is likely; US being in Debt is the object of some of the Top End.
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