Posted on 11/16/2009 2:32:27 PM PST by blam
Completely agree, but there are still some people out there with excellent Reagan Conservative pedigrees advocating them.
And there are even Liberal Democrats who agree with them.
Defense + Veterans + Homeland Security + Nuclear Weapons/Fuel 10/09 = $91 billion
Medicare + Medicaid 10/09 = $86 billion
Social Security + Disability 10/09 = $65 billion
Interest on Public Debt 10/09 = $18 billion
The defense budget numbers are entirely driven by troop/sailor levels. Manpower + O&M is $50 billion alone, while Veterans + Defense Civil of another $17 billion is ongoing legacy costs of force levels.
Forward deployment overseas is the most expensive group of troops because of logistics costs.
Medicare/Social Security are entirely paid for by the FICA tax for the forseeable future, therefore they are not the cause of the deficit/income tax/corporate tax problems we face, although the spending levels they have are an abomination.
Welfare + Unemployment + Education + Energy + Foreign Aid + Agirculture Subsidies + Food Stamps + EPA in 10/09 = $43 billion
Bad as these are, they aren’t the locus of the problem.
Income Taxes (personal + corporate) = $57 billion
Deficit = -$176 billion
I'm not sure how seriously we're really supposed to take this. War is a fantastically inefficient and wasteful use of resources. But at least the Army Surplus stores would have good stuff again.
There’s always Honduras
History is clear: deficits occur with higher taxes, and with lower taxes. Politicians spend, regardless. But prosperity ONLY occurs with lower taxes.
Three oceans, the Rio Grande, and the Sonora Desert are worth more than 90% of the defense budget to our security. The US was very secure 15-20 years ago with a defense budget under $300 billion, and prices just 33% lower than today. I think with 50% of today's defense budget, we'd still be very secure. And we could reallocate $400+ billion of the economy to more productive activities than the modern day equivalent of Pyramid building.
Politicians spend, regardless.
Yes, lets run up the white flag on spending and just concede that we will suffer deficits and debt and the welfare state till kingdom come.
But prosperity ONLY occurs with lower taxes.
The period of 1947-1963 wasn't prosperous with 90% top marginal rates?
How about 1963-1973 with 70% top marginal rates? No prosperity?
How about 1983-1987 with 50% top marginal rates? Again, no prosperity?
No wait, 1993-2001, with 40% top marginal rates - no prosperity?
Your linkage has no empirical proof to it. I don't disagree with lowering taxes at the margin, but truly criticial to prosperity is limiting the bite of government on the economy, and eliminating artificial disincentives in the tax code.
Federal Taxes are currently running at $2 billion of a $14.5 trillion economy. That's under 14% and lower than anytime in recent memory. Its not excessive tax collections that are dragging on the eeconomy right now, but excessive debt.
The "prosperity" of the 1960s was pretty phoney too, and was soon seen in the destruction of the economy caused after JFK's tax cuts wore off and the LBJ Nixon tax hikes took effect.
But, I'm done with you. If you want higher taxes, go for it. The only way out of "deficits" is to have the private sector grow faster than government. Only Coolidge was able to hold down government spending for five years, and at a horrific cost to the U.S. in national security. So, go for it. No more responses from me.
Professor, that sort of misrepresentational crap is beneath you.
Only Coolidge was able to hold down government spending for five years
Both Truman and Eisenhower did so too.
1946 - $55.2 billion, 1951 - $45.5 billion.
1953 - $76.1 billion, 1957 - $76.6 billion.
Even FDR held the line: 1934 - $6.5 billion, 1938 - $6.8 billion.
and at a horrific cost to the U.S. in national security.
Coolidge spent $700 million per year on the military, compared to $250 million per year under Teddy Roosevelt, even though the general price level had only doubled.
If Teddy Roosevelt epitomized a strong funding of the miltiary, what does that make Coolidge?
And what was the horrific cost? The US failed to declare war on the rest of the world in the 1920's? Really Professor, are you now blaming Coolidge for the rise of Naziism, Stalinism, and Imperial Japan?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.