From: irving@Happy-Man.com (Irving_Wolfe)
Subject: Re: Act Now to Fight the Deficit
Reply-To: Irving_Wolfe@Happy-Man.com
Organization: Happy Man Corp., Vashon Island, WA 98070-7399
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 15:33:30 GMT

In <1993Jan26.192905.6206@adobe.com> hamachi@adobe.com (Gordon Hamachi) writes:
> I care about what happens to this country of ours.  I care 
> about my job and your job, and people's life savings.  If we 
> can all work together to avert an economic collapse, we will 
> all be much better off in the long run.  

That makes sense, if one holds the fairly extreme but common view
that economic decline is somehow unhealthy, unnatural, or bad.  

I think it makes more sense to view economic decline more like
getting a belly-ache after eating far too much.  After fifty years
of almost continuous boom, including the past 10 or more years, in
which the benefits of the boom were not shared by all Americans but
rather concentrated among the professional class and the wealthy,
perhaps it is just time for a belly-ache.  

The belly-ache, to be helpful to us all, must be severe enough that 
the banking system's excesses won't be repeated for a couple of 
generations.  

It must be felt strongly enough that leveraged buyouts will become 
rarities both because of lenders' unwillingness to supply funds and 
buyers' unwillingness to ask for the money.  It must be harsh 
enough, employment-wise, for jobs to once again assume a very high 
value in people's lives.  

Finally, to have the necessary wholesome effect on human values --
favoring friendship, love, kindness, and sharing over greed and
self-centeredness -- it must cut the average standard of living
enough to make the higher values seem still attainable while the
economic values seem quite futile and dependent on unusual luck.

Thus, fighting the natural and wholesome economic depression that 
is beginning to spread through the world is a great mistake.  
Probably, nothing can be done about it, any more than man can 
prevent a volcano from exploding when its time is come.  This has 
been tried extensively since the Reagan years, with the biggest 
fiscal stimulus ever, with little result other than weakening the 
country's financial infrastructure.  But if something _could_ be 
done to boost the level of economic activity when it needs to drop, 
to do so is to harm your fellow humans and, long run, to harm 
economic activity also, since it will mean a deeper and longer 
depression to correct the more severe excesses you will create.  

As long as people accept periods of economic slack as necessary and 
even desirable, they can adjust to them and prepare for them by 
living sensible lives.  Pretending that the government can protect 
us from the rain only promotes big government, reduced freedom, and 
a weaker economy.  Let's resolve to enjoy the recession and to
learn and grow during it!  Meanwhile, we can pay off debts to
prepare to live through it relatively comfortably.
-- 
 Irving_Wolfe@Happy-Man.com      Happy Man Corp.  206/463-9399 x101
 4410 SW Pt. Robinson Rd., Vashon Island, WA  98070-7399   fax x108
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