Text 6908, 68 rader
Skriven 2014-08-16 14:59:00 av BOB KLAHN (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av JEFF BINKLEY
Ärende: INCOME INEQUALITY
=========================
 ...

HF>>New favorite quote, replacing Mrs. Thatcher's "The trouble with
HF>>Socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's
HF>>money."

 An old one, and it's the same problem with modern American
 capitalism. After all, the banks, investment houses, hedge
 funds, do not produce one penny's worth of actual wealth. The
 survive on other people's money. Yet over the last 30 or 40
 years, they have more than doubled their share of the economy.
 That means, they are taking twice as much wealth out of the
 economy, and not producing a penny of wealth themselves.

 So, that is why we are running out of money, other people's
 money, because it's being soaked up by non-productive entities.

 The growth of the IT field has been cited as another wealth
 sponge, since so much of it is outside the productive sector.

 And there is the military, which does not produce wealth, but
 certainly absorbs a lot of it. Historically the only significant
 causes in national debt explosions have been the Great
 Depression, a one time thing, and war. Historically the end of
 war has meant the downsizing of military spending, which has
 been associated with every single pre-WWII approach to paying
 off the debt.

 Since WWII we have not reduced military spending significantly
 at all. Coincidentally, the debt has not gone down. Funny that.

 Then we get to health care. In 1960 medical costs were about 6%
 of GDP, neat that for military spending. Both went up during the
 Vietnam war, but military spending went back down after the war,
 medical care has kept taking more. By 1982 it was 10%, by 2005
 it was 15%, and has been reported as 17% recently. It was
 projected to hit 20% in the near future, though it appears the
 Affordable Care Act is moderating the increase.

 As much as health care is necessary to well being, and
 contributes to creation of wealth, it does not, itself, create
 and tangible wealth.

 In any event the cost of health care is already absorbing more
 of the US gdp than military spending did to bring down the
 Soviet Union.

 Between all those wealth sponges I would not be surprised to
 find that 50% of the GDP was in non-productive arenas.

 JB> Yep.  Likewise we should replace the leftist concept of
 JB> wealth redistribution with debt redistribution (since we're
 JB> just printing money and IOUs).

 Again, since the non-productive sectors are soaking up more and
 more wealth, we have no other choice. Of course, the fact that
 GW Bush cut taxes in wartime, war being the most important
 factor in debt increase, the problem has been multiplied.

 Republicans --  The party of death ......


BOB KLAHN bob.klahn@sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn

... Libertarians don't build bridges.
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