[ExI] libertarianism

[John Clark]

On Fri, Oct 19, 2018 at 3:47 PM William Flynn Wallace <foozler83 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I think it will take another crash on Wall Street or maybe even worse to
> get us off the free money train we are riding.
>

I think the dangers of deficit spending have been dramatically overstated,
the USA has spent more money than it had in nearly every year since it
started in 1776 and yet that doesn't seem to have harmed it, the country is
still here and is the most powerful in the world. I'm not saying deficit
spending couldn't theoretically get out of hand but I am saying it is not
necessary or even desirable for a government to have a precisely balanced
budget each and every year.

But if you think it's important, only 7 presidents have  left office with
the government owing less money as a percentage of GDP than when they
entered the office. The are listed below, the first two made by far the
largest reductions:

 1) Harry Truman, a Democrat
 2) Bill Clinton, a Democrat
 3) Dwight Eisenhower, a Republican
 4) Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat
 5) Richard Nixon, a Republican
 6) John Kennedy, a Democrat
 7) Jimmy Carter, a Democrat

It's interesting that the conventional wisdom that the Democrats are the
spendthrift party and the Republicans are the conservative fiscally prudent
party is inconsistent with the facts.

> We have to raise taxes and lower spending without harming the vulnerable
> - and yes, I do think that's possible


To do that you would need a MASSIVE reduction in military spending, and
even then I doubt it would be enough.

John K Clark
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