Ron Paul: If spending were solution, there'd be no problem

[txballoonman]

Dave, I got to this video from RawStory* com under the heading "Local News." Sweet, huh?

[fczwartek]

Cut the pentagon budget in half .... end all these stupid and pointless wars of aggression, empire, and neo- colonialism. Close every single military base in foreign soil. Invest that money in something productive .. like the American people (by that I mean in the middle and working classes, and the poor ... F* the capitalist class.)

Really, how can we have a discussion about reducing the deficit if military spending is "off the table"? We can't.

[CurtHowland]

@fczwartek "Invest that money in something productive"

Best way to do that is not to tax it in the first place.

If "government" spends it on what "government" considers productive, it will just build up to what they're doing right now.

"how can we have a discussion about reducing the deficit if military spending is "off the table"?"

Seriously, if all discretionary spending were abolished right now, leaving just SS, Medicare, Medicaid and other entitlements, the budget wouldn't balance.

[fczwartek]

@CurtHowland

The Republic has always run a deficit Curt, since day 1. There have also been times throughout history when the debt was higher relative to GDP than it is currently. There's never going to be a balanced budget (just like there was never a Clinton "surplus") no matter how much deficit hawks cry about it.

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What bothers me is wasting nearly a trillion dollars a year on the pentagon system and warm mongering ... and then ripping huge holes in the social safety net.

[CurtHowland]

@fczwartek "The Republic has always run a deficit Curt, since day 1."

Well, no, in 1834 and 1835 (I believe), Andrew Jackson paid off the national debt entirely.

Other than those two years, I agree. In fact, the US was formed with a ready-made debt, since it took on the debts of the states that they ran up fighting the British.

See: Hamilton's Curse by Tom DiLorenzo

I agree completely about the waste that the Pentagon represents. Abolish it.

[fczwartek]

@CurtHowland

I've never heard that Andrew Jackson "paid off the national debt entirely" before. And actually according to this Treasury dept. chart that I'm looking at the national debt was reduced for a full decade before 1836 (when it started going up again) but was never paid off entirely. There was never a surplus.

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Interestingly the 1st Great Depression began only 2 years later.

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Unfortunately the pentagon system is the beating heart of our economy now.

[CurtHowland]

@fczwartek "but was never paid off entirely. There was never a surplus."

Then they're wrong. Jackson did, and Congress started sharing the surplus with the states.

"Interestingly the 1st Great Depression began only 2 years later."

If you'd like a good talk on the recession of 1836, there is a wonderful talk by a history professor from San Jose State university called "Martin van Buren: What Greatness Really Means"

mises-org/media/1094

[fczwartek]

@CurtHowland

Well not to split hairs ... my statement that "the republic has always run a deficit" is technically inaccurate. There were various times in the 18th and 19th century when there was no deficit and the debt was paid down ... but the debt was never fully and entirely paid off.

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So to revise ... the republic has always had a debt, since day 1.

[Templehatchet]

I do not like how Ron Paul used the disclaimer that the government does know what they are doing. They know exactly what their doing.