[Paleopsych] the welfare state

[Steve Hovland]

The Bush plan takes money away from politicians
and gives it to his friends in Wall Street.  I don't
see much difference.

The economy is not suffering from a lack of investment.
If you check up on capital spending you will find that
Bush's tax cuts did not translate into a surge in
investment.

The economy is suffering from a lack of consumer spending, 
which we now see in the form of the lackluster results so far in 
the Christmas season.  With half of the personal income in
this country going to the top 20%, and after so many paychecks
were sent overseas, many people simply don't have the money
to make this a profitable season.

If we have some privatization of Social Security, most of the
money will go to reflate the value of existing stock, not to
fund new ventures.  Once the stock is reinflated, the
big guys will come in and skim the cream, as they have so
often in the past.  Right now Wall Street is nervous because
the Baby Boomers feel like their pockets have been picked
one time too many and we are staying away in droves.

With the exception of the Defense Department, most government
agencies are literally accountable: they keep books which are
open to inspection.  We can complain if we see something we
don't like.  And we can vote in new political leaders if we want
a change in direction.

If you haven't read it, I highly recommend Giuliani's book
"Leadership."  He tells how he refocused the agencies in
New York to get a different and better result.  As old Ross
Perot once remarked "You get what you inspect."


Steve Hovland
www.stevehovland.net


-----Original Message-----
From:	Lynn D. Johnson, Ph.D. [SMTP:ljohnson at solution-consulting.com]
Sent:	Monday, December 06, 2004 8:18 PM
To:	The new improved paleopsych list
Subject:	Re: [Paleopsych] the welfare state

Agreed, excellent point, although the Bush plan still offers a number of 
advantages, mostly that when you take the money away from politicians 
and invest it:
    1. The economy is helped by greater capital being available for 
growth, and
    2. The politicans can't spend it like they did the falsely-named 
social security trust fund. All that money is gone, spent, and nothing 
buy IOUs left. Pork like Japan's pork that has bankrupted that 
government, nothing to show for it.
    3. The money really does belong to the person who earned it, not to 
government bureaucrats.

The reason welfare states don't work is precisely because Steve's 
logical idea, sound in principle and practice, is not being adopted. 
Policy based on pressure groups, not on principle. The failure to adopt 
makes me more libertarian in outlook, distrusting government because of 
the lack of accountability.

"government doesn't solve problems, it subsidizes them."
    R. R.

Lynn

Steve Hovland wrote:

>The real way to fix Social Security is to raise
>the retirement age, which would require a
>major expenditure of political capital :-)
>
>When Germany set up their pension system
>the life expectancy was 67 years, so they
>figured a retirement age of 65 wouldn't break
>the bank.
>
>Now that many people live decades beyond
>65, we simply can't afford it, nor should we.
>
>Steve Hovland
>www.stevehovland.net
>  
>

_______________________________________________
paleopsych mailing list
paleopsych at paleopsych.org
http://lists.paleopsych.org/mailman/listinfo/paleopsych