Our grandchildren? I am afraid not, disaster is going to be here in very short order. Our children and grandchildren will be living the leftist Utopia Dream- equal poverty for all, except of course the Davos crowd who will be exempt from silly rules that they create. Wait until the petro dollar or some other foreign (China) becomes the medium of exchange in world trade. Sorry Charlie the US Dollar no good here!
I think Mr. Otis misses the point by worrying about money. The debt is the consequence of physical things: the reduction in the labor force participation rate at the same time people demand more consumption. He does note that voters will get angry at the consequences of spending cuts, but does not state the point plainly: People want to receive more than they produce. There are several methods to fix this. We can restore welfare work requirements where they have been rescinded; we can ameliorate occupational licensing requirements; we can reduce college loans so more people -- both students and staff -- will get productive jobs instead of wasting time in unproductive classes while consuming things produced by others; we can get rid of legal education requirements for lawyers so that they can train through apprenticeships as Lincoln did. Some of these measures will produce the very outrage which Otis anticipates, but the point is that they can and should be advocated on moral grounds, not just as regrettable measures to meet a budget requirement.
Even with strong leadership the problem cannot be solved until a vast majority of the people understand the issue and its ultimate impact on the nation. Instead of vast amounts of money being raised and spent electing politicians perhaps a vast amount of money could be raised to mount a campaign to inform and motivate the electorate to understand the reason for addressing the issue.
If you want to reduce the size, scope and cost of government, here's something you can do: eliminate tax withholding and require taxpayers to actually cut a check from money they earned and that has already been transferred to their bank accounts.
Our grandchildren? I am afraid not, disaster is going to be here in very short order. Our children and grandchildren will be living the leftist Utopia Dream- equal poverty for all, except of course the Davos crowd who will be exempt from silly rules that they create. Wait until the petro dollar or some other foreign (China) becomes the medium of exchange in world trade. Sorry Charlie the US Dollar no good here!
I think Mr. Otis misses the point by worrying about money. The debt is the consequence of physical things: the reduction in the labor force participation rate at the same time people demand more consumption. He does note that voters will get angry at the consequences of spending cuts, but does not state the point plainly: People want to receive more than they produce. There are several methods to fix this. We can restore welfare work requirements where they have been rescinded; we can ameliorate occupational licensing requirements; we can reduce college loans so more people -- both students and staff -- will get productive jobs instead of wasting time in unproductive classes while consuming things produced by others; we can get rid of legal education requirements for lawyers so that they can train through apprenticeships as Lincoln did. Some of these measures will produce the very outrage which Otis anticipates, but the point is that they can and should be advocated on moral grounds, not just as regrettable measures to meet a budget requirement.
Even with strong leadership the problem cannot be solved until a vast majority of the people understand the issue and its ultimate impact on the nation. Instead of vast amounts of money being raised and spent electing politicians perhaps a vast amount of money could be raised to mount a campaign to inform and motivate the electorate to understand the reason for addressing the issue.
If you want to reduce the size, scope and cost of government, here's something you can do: eliminate tax withholding and require taxpayers to actually cut a check from money they earned and that has already been transferred to their bank accounts.