View Single Post
Old 01-25-2005, 08:33 PM   #5 (permalink)
irateplatypus
can't help but laugh
 
irateplatypus's Avatar
 
Location: dar al-harb
i firmly disagree with the President on this as well.

it's a two-fold problem.

-on one hand, the public has no problem letting future generations take care of the debts they create today. it's an ethical shift in the electorate that could have grave consequences for our country and the world in the decades to come. we can't go on forever spending more than we have. we can't use more resources from our environment than are replenished. the honeymoon can't last forever, it will catch up to us.

-secondly, we have politicians who perceive the public's carefree attitude towards spending and use that to fill the budget with pork and their own pet projects to boost support with their voting constituency. this has the effect of making anyone who advocates fiscal restraint perceived as a vicious person who has no compassion for those who live off social programs or excessive defense spending.

the only times when i think it is acceptable to live within a deficit spending budget are times of war. the money should be spent to win the conflict as quickly as possible... restraining our forces in a committed battle by being thrifty will only prolong the conflict, raise casualties, and cause a larger long-term expense. that being said... i think its unreasonable for the public to expect that life at home should continue without change in times of war. the impact on the budget can be lessened if the non-essential items (and there are many) on the budget are trimmed during times of war.

also, blaming the current president for the systemic problems our country has with living within its means is a copout.
__________________
If you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.

~ Winston Churchill

Last edited by irateplatypus; 01-25-2005 at 08:38 PM..
irateplatypus is offline  
 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360