Comments on: All That Matters Is How Fast You Spend The Money http://www.frumforum.com/all-that-matters-is-how-fast-you-spend-the-money Building a conservatism that can win again Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:50:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: suey http://www.frumforum.com/all-that-matters-is-how-fast-you-spend-the-money/comment-page-1#comment-50648 suey Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:02:03 +0000 #comment-50648 I would be happy with a revolving draft on the Israeli model. It might put some spine in our youth. I would though consider shutting many of our overseas bases. We should not be empire builders. I would be happy with a revolving draft on the Israeli model. It might put some spine in our youth. I would though consider shutting many of our overseas bases. We should not be empire builders.

]]> By: sinz54 http://www.frumforum.com/all-that-matters-is-how-fast-you-spend-the-money/comment-page-1#comment-54006 sinz54 Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:41:57 +0000 #comment-54006 Larryo & Suey: I suggest you look at the Pentagon's budget. The bulk of it goes to operations and maintenance, pay and benefits for our men and women in uniform and their families, and so on. Only 20% goes to procurement of new weapons. (cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States) You actually saw an example of this, when Pentagon spending soared to new heights, yet our troops in Iraq did not have the armored vehicles they needed to defend themselves against Improvised Explosive Devices, the body armor they needed, and other such things. That's because America has an all-volunteer armed force, and we have to constantly pay a lot to attract young men and women away from civilian life. If you guys on the Left REALLY want to cut defense spending and still have an effective fighting force, you should advocate returning to a military draft. Draftees don't have to be paid as much, because they have no choice about serving. Larryo & Suey: I suggest you look at the Pentagon’s budget. The bulk of it goes to operations and maintenance, pay and benefits for our men and women in uniform and their families, and so on. Only 20% goes to procurement of new weapons.
(cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States)

You actually saw an example of this, when Pentagon spending soared to new heights, yet our troops in Iraq did not have the armored vehicles they needed to defend themselves against Improvised Explosive Devices, the body armor they needed, and other such things. That’s because America has an all-volunteer armed force, and we have to constantly pay a lot to attract young men and women away from civilian life. If you guys on the Left REALLY want to cut defense spending and still have an effective fighting force, you should advocate returning to a military draft. Draftees don’t have to be paid as much, because they have no choice about serving.

]]> By: suey http://www.frumforum.com/all-that-matters-is-how-fast-you-spend-the-money/comment-page-1#comment-50433 suey Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:45:39 +0000 #comment-50433 I would cut defence spending in half ( why do we need super bombers at ridiculous prices anyway?) And use a quarter of it for nation building as against destroying. I give you props Mr Holtz-Eakin for defending the undefendable during the election. There you were on the teeeve day after day giving it the best you have. Tax cuts or spending let's see, a dollar is taken out of the treasury in a tax cut. That is a dollar you now don't have to spend. A dollar you tax and then spend on a job creating project then that person actually gets to pay some tax instead of receiving unemployment benefit. Seems like a win/win for the spending to me. OK it will not get cash into the economy as fast but you actually end up with say a bridge or a decent electrical grid for your money. I would cut defence spending in half ( why do we need super bombers at ridiculous prices anyway?) And use a quarter of it for nation building as against destroying. I give you props Mr Holtz-Eakin for defending the undefendable during the election. There you were on the teeeve day after day giving it the best you have. Tax cuts or spending let’s see, a dollar is taken out of the treasury in a tax cut. That is a dollar you now don’t have to spend. A dollar you tax and then spend on a job creating project then that person actually gets to pay some tax instead of receiving unemployment benefit. Seems like a win/win for the spending to me. OK it will not get cash into the economy as fast but you actually end up with say a bridge or a decent electrical grid for your money.

]]> By: larryo http://www.frumforum.com/all-that-matters-is-how-fast-you-spend-the-money/comment-page-1#comment-46798 larryo Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:23:02 +0000 #comment-46798 Taking the last first, a payroll tax cut does not benefit the unemployed, a group which expands geometrically as the consequences of "conservative" economic polices become more and more apparent (as you say, it takes time). Second, we have seen over the past 8 years how "conservative" tax cut policies have not worked for the benefit of the nation as a whole, but only for the benefit of the select few and of the huge corporations. They don't use the money to invest in "more jobs." They use it to merge - just what the banks have been doing with the bailout funds that Paulson handed over. But we do have a spending problem. Tell you what: Cut the Pentagon's budget in half - we will still spend 4 times as much as the rest of the world combined on weapons, and look at the money we'll save! Taking the last first, a payroll tax cut does not benefit the unemployed, a group which expands geometrically as the consequences of “conservative” economic polices become more and more apparent (as you say, it takes time). Second, we have seen over the past 8 years how “conservative” tax cut policies have not worked for the benefit of the nation as a whole, but only for the benefit of the select few and of the huge corporations. They don’t use the money to invest in “more jobs.” They use it to merge – just what the banks have been doing with the bailout funds that Paulson handed over. But we do have a spending problem. Tell you what: Cut the Pentagon’s budget in half – we will still spend 4 times as much as the rest of the world combined on weapons, and look at the money we’ll save!

]]> By: sinz54 http://www.frumforum.com/all-that-matters-is-how-fast-you-spend-the-money/comment-page-1#comment-40658 sinz54 Wed, 28 Jan 2009 13:20:39 +0000 #comment-40658 We conservatives have a hard time explaining why it's better to stimulate the economy generally with tax cuts, rather than hire those unemployed folks directly to do some make-work jobs like the ones in Obama's stimulus package. The benefits of our approach are more longer-lasting, but take longer to achieve. (The unemployment rate during the Reagan Administration didn't drop below 7% till his second term.) The Democrats will always point out that cutting taxes doesn't immediately help anybody who is unemployed for so long that he exhausted his unemployment insurance and now has zero income. We only got away with it in the Reagan administration, because for the first time ever, Americans were more worried about inflation than unemployment and wanted the inflation fixed first. So they tolerated relatively high unemployment rates right through his entire first term. We don't have that luxury this time. We conservatives have a hard time explaining why it’s better to stimulate the economy generally with tax cuts, rather than hire those unemployed folks directly to do some make-work jobs like the ones in Obama’s stimulus package. The benefits of our approach are more longer-lasting, but take longer to achieve. (The unemployment rate during the Reagan Administration didn’t drop below 7% till his second term.) The Democrats will always point out that cutting taxes doesn’t immediately help anybody who is unemployed for so long that he exhausted his unemployment insurance and now has zero income. We only got away with it in the Reagan administration, because for the first time ever, Americans were more worried about inflation than unemployment and wanted the inflation fixed first. So they tolerated relatively high unemployment rates right through his entire first term. We don’t have that luxury this time.

]]>