Ted Rall for March 27, 2013

That’s what I say about that analogy. Or when they say “like a family.” You know, because families never take out mortgages, car loans, student loans, or anything like that that will invest in more future revenue.-Republican politicians must have horrible businesses and families.

Government is not a business. It is not a household. It is a collective social expression of our common needs and desires for fairness, order, and security. It is an extension of each of us and all of us. And, some of us still like to war, ya’ll.

16 Trillion in national debt and climbing. We all pay the interest on this year after year. Do the math . . . for your grandkids sake.

You are Dead wrong here Mr. Rall. Our country’s spending is out of control by any rational standard. And those arbitrary standards to which you refer are the thresholds beyond which lenders will start demanding much higher interest rates to fund our government. Look at Greece, Cyprus, Ireland, Spain, Portugal and it doesn’t take long to understand the very real and bleak picture for our country if we don’t get our spending under control.

Where I think you and I DO agree is on where we should start cutting. I have long decried the Military Industrial complex that seems to consume an enormous amount of our Federal Budget. After that maybe we can look at reducing our domestic security budget by: Closing Federal prisons and turning out people who’s only crime was to consume/use/distribute drugs, Eliminate the Gropers at the airport that want to inspect every body that comes through, Stop testing every child 3 or 4 times to make sure that they are getting their fair share of education, and the list goes on an on of things the Federal Government does because somebody wanted to control somoene else’s behavior.

Back to the original point though: That money we are spending today is coming out of the wallets of my kids and grandkids down the road. If it really was an investment in the future that would be one thing but it isn’t. Much of that money goes into largess to be buttered onto selfish voters who want their freebies at someone else’s expense….Free Phone, Free Phone, Obama got me a Free Phone.

Spending is not out of control by ANY standard. The deficit has fallen by half since Obama took office, and is a perfectly reasonable percentage of GDP. In a recession, the government SHOULD be spending more to get the economy moving, at which point we can close tax loopholes, adjust rates upwards to a rational point, and have a functioning country again. Imagine if we were in a war and the Republicans were pulling the financial blackmail they’ve been doing to kill the government! (Oh, that’s right, we are in a war. It’s easy to forget.)

“Exactly how else would you run government like a business?”

It is not the purpose of a government to be a profit making organization. But it should be run as efficiently and conservatively as possible. It’s our money they are spending, not their own.

We make wage comparisons between the government and private sector as if they are supposed to function the same. They are different principals of operation. Government should be fair and practical in the wage and benefits paid but many have taken that as carte blanch allowance to spend lavishly.

As they own all of the walls anyway, they can stand in front of any wall they wish to!!

“So, you want your business to be mired in debt?”Business take on debt to finance future growth all the time. The idea that our government should have zero debt is just as silly. Republicans don’t care about debt. It’s obvious from their history. They care far more about taxes, especially on the wealthy than they care about the debt.

Wall St.?