Performance Parking

[JM3]

No- I agree in many ways- good god- I live in DC and routinely come in contact with many people you love to hate- in a worms eye position, so Im well aware of their foibles. Theres really only two kinds of people in the world- and it aint D and R...

[DoctorWho]

I'm serious! Republicans and democrats are just different sides of the same coin: they try to solve every problem with the government. Republicans have done a better job of convincing people otherwise until fairly recently, but by and large it's true. They sell us the idea that there is some huge debate going on and we have to vote for this party or that because the other guys are going to destroy the world. People buy it, and by gerrymandering the congressional districts they are able to create a pretty high degree of job security. But it's all ultimately just an argument about who's version of the ideal society the government is going to implement at gunpoint.

Evrybody is working within the system set up at the time of the new deal. I think it was in the American Interest that described a Jeffersonian, agrarian system that was changed only after Lincoln put the transcontinental railroad in place and basically put the country on a system with a strong central government and society focused on commerce, then the New Deal changed the focus to regulation, social welfare, etc. Everybody has been working on that system ever since. R congressmen just like Ds proudly get pork for their districts.

But if something can't go on forever, it won't. And if the cbo or fomc presentation I saw is right, that in 2020 interest on the debt will be 4% gdp, so that 15 or 20 cents of every tax dollar goes to paying down the debt, then there will be some drastic changes whether we want them to or not. That's what I don't understand about the Ds right now. If they are wrong about the debt and if growth on an almost unexpected level doesn't happen soon, it's over for many social programs that they like. Maybe they are counting on blaming the rich or the bankers, and it will probably be effective, but it won't be correct.

There are some serious people who think the bright outlook on energy will break the pricing power of opec and usher in plentiful and relatively cheap (or at least stable prices) energy that will spur growth and make the deficit unimportant. I hope they are right.