| | Dean:
That is exactly the musical chairs/train wreck politics I think both parties have been embracing...for decades.
I think this economic train wreck was cast in concrete decades ago. Sure, at any point, responsible adults could have advocated dynamiting the layers of concrete and avoiding the coming wreck, but what was humanly possible was not politically possible, given the nature of our national political parties, which is, the nature of a spoiled child given the keys to a candy store.
With every passing year, the layers of concrete got thicker and more intransigent; the required character to avert the coming wreck faded further and further into the far horizon. never to be seen again, and so, it became full blown train wreck politics, where contempt has replaced character. I think 1980 might have been the last chance to painlessly readjust course-- when the Boomers were just entering their earnings years. Too late now, the fleecing of an entire already surplus paying generation is long complete.
Here is the weasel calculus; is it better to be out of power when the train undeniably wrecks, to blame the other party, or is the tag team nature of this C.F. sufficient to permit the then current party in power to play the 'we inherited' speech endlessly, and claim that the solution is to now give that party absolute power?
They are both weasels, because on average, we're average.
#1 willing lender to the treasury has been the SS Trust Fund for decades -- not China. That #1 willing lender is officially gone, no longer absorbing US debt.
#2 is in the driver seat now, the world is moving towards the Yuan as we speak, and neither party over here is making much noise pointing that out, just like the terrified leaders in any failing tribal C.F.
The radical left sees opportunity in this train wreck-- a nation in pain screaming out 'we don't care how, just fix it!' And God help us, nobody knows what the radical right sees in any of this, except the chance to cling to the gig for 15 minutes longer and carve carcass, while trying to avoid being carved for the 15 minutes of going nowhere noise the left wants to try.
It's not going to be pretty, and laughing at North Korea hurling rocket junk into the sea does not drown out the sound of China going to the moon while we watch our Chevy Volts go unsold by the thousands.
Things we could do that we will never do:
1] Transition SS from defined benefit to defined contribution. If we'd have done that 30 years ago, then it could have been done gradually over time. Today, the issue is so severe and immediate that in order to be effective, this transition would be drastic. So, never going to happen. Instead, our pols will just ramp up what they've already been doing, which is, print money and destroy the US dollar even more, gambling that the electorate they have contempt for will largely not understand what is going on. They will play the same tired old 'we inherited this mess' speech and print away.
2] Cut the over head of government back to JFK's level of spending, adjusted for population and inflation. (1.5T/yr) Not going to happen, when the populace accepts the simple printing of money.
The infestation in DC is not going to go away. It will cling to power until its fingers bleed, even if that means the nation's ass bleeds. That is what is going to happen.
The infestation in DC will never voluntarily devolve back to being state plumbers, because being state emperors pays much better. It is simple human nature.
(Edited by Fred Bartlett on 4/16, 8:48am)
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