[ExI] id theft in o-care

[spike]

>... On Behalf Of Eugen Leitl
Subject: Re: [ExI] id theft in o-care


>...I also notice little outrage about things like
http://killerapps.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/10/01/on_the_eve_of_the_gover
nment_shutdown_the_pentagon_spent_billions_on_weapons

>...Politics is insane in general, but US' is pure bedlam.
_______________________________________________

Eugen, clearly you don't understand the system.  The money they talk about
in this article is a different kind of money than the kind they need to
prevent closing down outdoor memorials and national parks.  The military
already had this money from last year's budget, which was a CR or continuing
resolution, which is a way of saying when the House of Representatives
cannot agree on a budget, they just pass a CR, which keeps the budget the
same as last year.  The current president started  his first term with an
enormous economic stimulus in the form of hundreds of billions of dollars
meant to save failing banks.  They somehow managed to get that one time
economic stimulus to count as part of that year's budget, so the next year's
CR included that economic stimulus package again.  Repeat for the next five
years in a row and this is where we end up.  The government has billions
that it must spend at the end of the fiscal year, on anything it can think
of, anything.  Otherwise it loses that money for next year.  

At the same time, parks are closing for lack of funding.  This is a
different kind of money, for it goes for things that are highly visible,
parks, open air memorials and so forth.  These are intentionally closed and
blocked off in order to draw attention to the government's need for more
money.  It encourages the citizenry to pressure their congress-critters to
authorize more borrowing, so that next year about this time, there will
again be a wild and desperate struggle to spend the remaining budget on
time.

What we are really seeing is a massive real-world test of Keynesian
economics.  Keynes would suggest that the government's taking the maximum
funds from the citizenry and spending it on anything, even complete
frivolity, helps and stimulates the economy.  Hayek would predict that only
sane expenditures really help the economy in the long run, that silly
wasteful expenditures actually hurt the economy and the nation, for it keeps
it building infrastructure to make stuff we don't need or want.

spike