re: #100 Obdicut

Oh, okay. I don’t entirely agree; there are many cases where if you don’t spend now, you will wind up spending later. If you can spend $50,000 to put in place a system that will decrease farm erosion, you can avoid spending millions in environmental damage, lost jobs, and food support down the road. A lot of the time, an expenditure makes sense even if you have to spend into the deficit to do it.

That does not mean the majority of our spending is of that nature, but I do think it’s very important that people not overlook that the choice is often between different amounts of spending at different times, not spending or no spending.

I understand, that as far as stimulus is concerned, government spending can be efficient (there is not saving), more efficient than cutting the tax burden on citizens. I also understand and agree that there are good ways to spend money, many. However, I believe that politics intrudes far too much on government spending and allows politicians to much influence on the private sector. I also believe that during down turns it is better to let people adapt to current economic conditions as soon as possible. Extending unemployment benefits and other social programs that will all end eventually is only delaying the inevitable music we will have to face. The longer we wait, the more painful it will be.