From: ald@clipper.ingr.com (Al Date)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,sci.econ,alt.individualism
Subject: Re: Trickle down, govt style    was What Happens to Perot's Name?
Date: 25 Jul 92 01:45:44 GMT
Organization: Intergraph Advanced Processor Division - Palo Alto, CA

In article <22436@oasys.dt.navy.mil> tdsmith@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Timothy Smith) writes:

>
>    Well, if they have good jobs in a strong economy (via education
>and infrastructure) it will be easier to pay off the debt than if the 
>economy is weak.  The bill is already very large, thanks to trickle
>down economics. 

Trickle down economics is just another term for private investment
in the productive economy.

No one doubts that private investment is the key to a healthy
economy.  To blame private investors on the 4 trillion dollar 
national debt is ridiculous.  The govt debt-machine PREVENTED
a significant amount of private investment in the economy
throughout the 80's, by outbidding the investment 
alternatives with high real risk-free yields,
sucking up 3 trillion into govt bonds, to finance ongoing
entitlement programs and Cold War spending.  

That is the story of the 80's.  
No recession occurred in Washington DC, nor for the primary 
recipients of govt largesse.  Unfortunately, these special
interests in general cannot be characterized as "competitive," 
in terms of providing goods and services needed by the consumers,
but are instead "parasitical."  We fed a cancer.  Are you reading
this, AARP?  The economy adapted to this distorted malinvestment,
leaving us underinvested in the future.

Trickle down wasnt even tried.

> I think investing in our future is better than hiding
>our heads in the sand. The economy is in a nose dive because we feasted 
>on our seed corn instead of putting it into the ground.  

Not only that, but we borrowed against the crops for the next 50 years.
The question is: who is going to manage the investment in our
future?  The govt?  Or the markets?  What is needed is not just
investment, but WISE investment.  Does anyone trust politicians
to do this job right?  They throw billions at projects and get
zero return, and when the sh*t hits the fan, they just add more to 
the debt.  Private sector investors have to cut losses sooner, and
they are less plagued by political considerations.

Everyone should read the Reason Magazine article on how the
Space Shuttle was designed to accommodate the products of
various key senatorial districts before they advocate
massive govt investments.  (Yes, that's how we ended up with
fatal o-rings instead of a single-piece rocket engine).


>Personal, corporate
>and government debt is at an all time high, Universities are cutting
>back programs for lack of cash, many utilities are so old they are on
>the verge of breakdown, many youths are turning to crime because they
>cannot see a path to a normal life, many people are suffering from easily
>preventable diseases for lack of preventative health care, etc.

It is easy to say that infrastructure and education should be
invested in, but it is another thing to make that investment
intelligently, and still another to see it pay off.  I think
we would be better off simply returning the money to the people,
and let them decide what sort of schools they want to patronize,
and what kind of local infrastructure they want to tax themselves
to build.  

Part of the problem is that we have flirted with central economic
planning, even while it has become thoroughly discredited.


>    All of these situations are dragging the U.S. economy down and need
>repair.  The debts need to be serviced.  No question. But servicing
>a debt without good university graduates, or without sewer or water
>systems, or without the youths leaving high school today, with sick workers,
>is impossible.  With all these things it MAY be possible to repay the
>spending spree of the Reagan era.

Sure, Ronnie takes the blame.  And so does the Democrat Congress.


--Al Date

Vote Libertarian
Pro-taxpayer / Pro-choice
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,alt.activism,alt.politics.elections