[madape]

All this bullshit whining about the deficit is making me sick. Reagan proved that responsible deficit planning can not only revive a depressed economy, it can lead to economic boom times. Lowering taxes grow the economy. It's that simple. As long as we also pursue a pro-growth spending policy, I have no problem with running moderate deficits. Massive entitlement programs such as social security and health care do nothing to grow the economy (in fact, they encourage workers to stay home and live off the dole, thereby stifling growth). Defense programs, education spending, and space programs DO in fact, grow the economy.

The deficit is one of those invisible crisises made up by doomsday liberals to scare uninformed people into voting for them. They did the same thing in the 70s and 80s with ecological fantasy terms like "Ozone Layer", "DDT", and "garbage barge", when absolutely no evidence ever existed that the world was about to end. Now they are scaring morons with veiled threats that our children will have to pay 80% in taxes in order to fix the mess we've gotten ourselves into UNLESS you vote for a democratic candidate (who will increase taxes, but will also increase spending - doesn't sound like a solution to me, but I digress).

History will prove that the people who beleive this lie are just as stupid and off-base as the acid dropping hippie who thought we'd all be swimming in garbage by now and wearing gasmasks to work. The truth is that the only ills that a modest deficit will bring to our economy is that it will a) moderatly increase our debt burden, and b) have an upward pressure on interest rates. The truth is, the debt in this country never comes due. There is never a time in which we'll need to "pay-out" on our national debt. It constantly rolls over, just as it has for centuries. The only effect it has on taxpayers is the amount that must be paid out to service the debt. By all accounts, our debt burden is incredibly low.. certainly lower than any other country in the civilized world. Just look at how the world views our treasury notes. They have the lowest yield of any country on the planet, and some of the lowest yeilds in US history. The international community is of the opinion that we can easily finance a little more debt... easily, especially when interest rates are as low as they are now. As for the upward pressue on interest rates... well, lets just say that when inflation is higher than your overnight Fed rates, you MIGHT not have a problem.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think big deficits are inherrently a good thing. But the world is not going to end if we run a deficit for a few years. In fact, I'd say that running a moderate deficit is healthier than running a surplus, because in a deficit you don't run the risk of a bubble in which money supply grows so fast that assets become dangerously overvalued, leading to a hard fall when things go back to normal... sound familiar? The big goal here is price stability, jobs, and economic growth. Reagan proved that all three goals can be had by financing growth through deficit spending. How is Bush doing? Well, according the FOMC, there is very little threat of inflation. The GDP is growing at the highest rates since Reagan. Once the jobs start coming (and the latest forecast is that we'll add over 3 million in 2004), Bush will have won the economic triple crown.

So keep crowing about the deficit, I won't think any worse of you than I already do. But while your saving up your cash for that forthcoming WWII level tax increase, you might want to think about spending $40 bucks for a nice gasmask.