State spending

Townhall.com ^ | June 24, 2003 | Rich Lowry

[waterstraat]

I predict state spending will increase - you heard it here first. There are too many unemployed, who will never get jobs that moved to india or china, and they must be taken care of, more welfare, more food stamps, more state programs to help these people.

For the most part, I believe this is a non-issue, or will soon be a non issue. 3 million americans no longer have to pay any taxes since bush got elected, and the predictions are that many more millions will not have to pay taxes in the future. There will be few companies remaining in the United States to pay ANY!! state taxes, so who cares? Who cares what state spending is, if your job is moved overseas and you arent going to be paying any taxes anyway ? or if you move your factory to china where there are no state taxes?

No businessman with any sense, will care about state spending if all of his offices and factories are elsewhere. This "state spending cry" is a false scare tactic being spread by a few uneducated people who refuse to move out of the country to places with a low cost of doing business .

[waterstraat]

Any college kid with too much credit-card debt might look longingly at state governments these days and wonder: How can I do that? The states are having a fiscal crisis without reducing spending. Any kid "CAN" do it, and I predict many kids will. The easiest thing for a college kid to do is to get as many credit cards as possible, and then when he graduates, he has two choices: get a job and pay it back, or declare bankruptcy. It is a good thing that most college kids are being flooded with credit card offers, they will need it to live on after graduating, or if they get jobs, to build credit history. Cant miss, and that is why credit cards to college kids make so much sense.

[tdadams]

It is a good thing that most college kids are being flooded with credit card offers, they will need it to live on after graduating, or if they get jobs, to build credit history. Cant miss, and that is why credit cards to college kids make so much sense.

I do hope you're being sarcastic. Either that or you work in the credit industry.

[waterstraat]

When you graduate from college, you either get a job, or you dont. If you get a job, you pay the credit card bills and establish credit. If you dont get a job, you have the means to live for a very long time on credit until you do get a job. Credit cards offer solutions to both scenarios.

[Alberta's Child]

The notion that anyone "needs to be taken care of" is a Marxist attitude and has no place in a free nation. People in the United States are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves -- if you'd let them.

[goldstategop]

You never have to pay your credit cards. I mean if you get into too much debt you can declare bankruptcy. The liberal politicians may soon discover the same avenue of escape for their spendthrift ways.

[tdadams]

If you dont get a job, you have the means to live for a very long time on credit until you do get a job.

"Living" on credit cards is about the stupidest thing anyone could ever do. Why would you even think that? Johnny Graduate can go out and get a job at UPS and watch his expenses until he gets his career job.

Running up credit card debt only shackles you for years and delays your ability to save, invest, and build wealth.

You didn't answer me, so now I'm sure you work in the credit industry.

[waterstraat]

"Living" on credit cards is about the stupidest thing anyone could ever do. Why would you even think that? Johnny Graduate can go out and get a job at UPS and watch his expenses until he gets his career job.

I guess you have not heard that we have been in a recession, and that the job market for college grads is the worst in 30 years, with very little hiring/recuriting on campus these days.

FYI, lots of college graduates cannot find a job. Furthermore, declaring bankruptcy does not hinder you, in getting credit, or in being a success.

People like Thomas Edison, John Sutter, Wayne Nueton, Donald TRump, Davy Crockett, Henry Ford, Walt Disney, Larry King, Mickey Rooney, Milton Hershey, Burt Reynolds, etc, have all went bankrupt.

We would not have fords to drive, chocolat to eat, Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse, electric lights to turn on, etc if it were not for people who lived on credit, did not pay their bills, and then declard bankruptcy to start over.

There is no negative stigma to being bankrupt anymore, people love Disney, love chocolate, and go to see Wayne Nueton by the thousands regardless of being deadbeats !

[goldstategop]

Agreed, if politicians can live like deadbeats, average folks are perfectly entitled to say hey, we can do the same thing. After all, look at the fine example those in power have set for us!

[waterstraat]

The notion that anyone "needs to be taken care of" is a Marxist attitude and has no place in a free nation. People in the United States are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves -- if you'd let them.

It is obvious that you have not heard any major politician since the 1920's. You also have not heard of any federal or state legislation that has passed since the 1920's either.

I got news for you, we have loads of social welfare programs from the 1930's, 1960's, etc.

Go back and read the campaign promises of the democrat and republican presidential candidates since the 1930's. For that matter , go back and read the promises of the presidential candidates in the last election. Bush is a repubican, and he promised more Marxist programs than nearly anyone in history.

The states WILL take care of all who have lost their jobs. And for those new immigrants(57,000 new ones coming in each week) the states will take care of them too. Even if they NEVER had a job in this country.

If you dont think so, you just dont know what has been happening in america during the past 70 years. Where have you been?

[goldstategop]

We're all going to be taken care of. Why worry? Don't believe a word of what they say about it being a horrible crisis. We still haven't lost the shirts off our backs. So pardon us if we're a tad skeptical of the dire warnings of imminent doom. We've heard it all before.

[waterstraat]

Agreed, if politicians can live like deadbeats, average folks are perfectly entitled to say hey, we can do the same thing. After all, look at the fine example those in power have set for us!

How many candidates, how many of your neighbors think the federal and state budgets deficits should be eliminated? How many people do you know who would not vote for someone who voted to increase the federal deficit?

No body cares about balancing any budget, and most economists/teachers/politicians say that spending more than you earn, is a good thing. In fact, most economists say that if we eliminated the deficit, and balanced the budget, it would lead to disaster.

When was the last time the federal budget was "really" balanced(dont count 1968, nor the borrowing from the social security trust funds).

Spending more than your income is either good, or bad, doesnt matter if you are an individual, business, or a governemnt agency. The principal is the same.

[Alberta's Child]

It's obvious to me that you don't understand the nature of an elected government and the importance of limiting its role in people's lives.

Of course there have been tons of programs in various levels of government over the last 70 years. That's exactly what happens when you have unconstrained government -- people who ought to be perfectly content with their lives suddenly take it upon themselves to demand more through their government.

The end result of all this will be financial ruin -- when you give the public free access to the treasury of a state or nation, you end up with a bankrupt government.

[goldstategop]

Yup. I was wrong. Money does come out of thin air, like magick.

[Mr. Bird]

Actually, when the uber-rich file for bankruptcy, it is normally a matter of restructuring their payments. Your example of Wayne Newton is a case in point (I can consider myself a Newton scholar, having watched E! True Hollywood Story). He filed bankruptcy to protect his assets from immediate seizure. He paid the debts he had incurred, just not on the original plan.

Extending credit to college kids is a calculated risk. They were quite stupid to offer me a card when I was 20 years old, and I was stupid enough to accept. It took me several years to clean up my credit report.

[goldstategop]

We're already bankrupt in California and still spending like there's no tomorrow. Go figure.

[goldstategop]

Indeed. Who says you can't have it all? You most certainly can! And judging by what the Democrats are promising, there are more goodies than you can shake a stick at. And the public will be entranced by their shiny new toys.

[NeoCaveman]

The states WILL take care of all who have lost their jobs. And for those new immigrants(57,000 new ones coming in each week) the states will take care of them too.

Where are they going to get the money to "take care" of these people?

[waterstraat]

Actually, when the uber-rich file for bankruptcy, it is normally a matter of restructuring their payments. Your example of Wayne Newton is a case in point (I can consider myself a Newton scholar, having watched E! True Hollywood Story). He filed bankruptcy to protect his assets from immediate seizure. He paid the debts he had incurred, just not on the original plan.

You are right about Wayne Neuton, but Wayne is the exception. The others I mentioned were dead broke. Donald Trump had negative net worth in the millions, there were few americans who had less money than Donald Trump. If all americans were given additional millions until their luck changed, then we all could get out of debt like Donald Trump.

John Sutter was flat broke, and had to leave the country to stay out of prison. Sutter went bankrupt twice! Yet, if it were not for his bankruptcies, we would not have discovered gold in CAlifornia, and america would not have been as prosperous as it was after 1849.

Henry Ford, Milton Hershey, Thomas Edison, Walt Disney were also flat broke, and deadbeats. They did not go into bankrupcty just to "restructure". They went into bankruptcy because they had no money and they wanted to welsch on all their debt and still all their lenders .