[ExI] u.s. military oath

[spike]

> ...On Behalf Of Damien Sullivan
> Subject: Re: [ExI] u.s. military oath
> 
> On Fri, Jul 24, 2009 at 06:19:27PM -0700, spike wrote:
> 
> > Our nation and the federal government are learning nothing from 
> > watching California implode.
> 
> True, dat.  Cf. Obama nattering about instituting "pay as you 
> go" when we're still in a deep recession, when the paramount 
> lesson of Calfornia is "don't combine balanced budget 
> requirements with a revenue stream tied to the business cycle".
> 
> -xx- Damien X-)

Ja.  US states must balance their budgets by law, for they cannot simply
print more money.  The fed acts as if printing more money is somehow
creating wealth, when in fact that process usually destroys wealth by
discouraging productive investment.  We are seeing huge amounts of US
capital flowing into idle gold, because investors fear the printing press
and are scrambling to preserve some capital until such time as adult
supervision returns to Washington.

I would like to see California go beyond the pay-as-you-go notion to an
astounding pay-before-you-go policy.  When some dippy ballot measure passes,
there would be no bonds, no expensive (and growing more so) borrowing, but
rather they would open a savings account and start dumping money into that.
When that account has enough money, THEN we start the project.  California
would actually MAKE money in interest instead of paying it.  Voters would
then pay attention to what these ballot measures cost, instead of voting for
everything and voting down every means of paying for it.

California's bond rating is now B^3, very close to the junk pile.  The cost
to borrow is staggering.

If Obama, Reid and Pelosi do manage to pass a constitutional balanced budget
amendment, I will cheerfully overlook all their other faults, and consider
them a good management team.

spike