Comments on: How much does the government owe? http://donklephant.com/2006/12/19/how-much-does-the-government-owe/ Big Teeth. Huge Ass. Surprisingly Reasonable. Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:53:41 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: grognard http://donklephant.com/2006/12/19/how-much-does-the-government-owe/comment-page-1/#comment-164279 grognard Thu, 21 Dec 2006 04:06:12 +0000 http://donklephant.com/2006/12/19/how-much-does-the-government-owe/#comment-164279 And remember if we elect Republicans they will enact a balanced budget amendment as a part of the contract with America ;) And remember if we elect Republicans they will enact a balanced budget amendment as a part of the contract with America ;)

]]> By: sleipner http://donklephant.com/2006/12/19/how-much-does-the-government-owe/comment-page-1/#comment-163921 sleipner Wed, 20 Dec 2006 21:13:25 +0000 http://donklephant.com/2006/12/19/how-much-does-the-government-owe/#comment-163921 Of course another extremely useful change is to ban the government from spending money it doesn't have. In my opinion, taxes (particularly on the wealthy, who owe their wealth in large part to our society) are way too low to pay for required governmental services, and many things the government should be doing are not being done. If the trend continues with reckless spending and even more reckless tax cuts, we will be a province of China by 2050. Of course another extremely useful change is to ban the government from spending money it doesn’t have. In my opinion, taxes (particularly on the wealthy, who owe their wealth in large part to our society) are way too low to pay for required governmental services, and many things the government should be doing are not being done.

If the trend continues with reckless spending and even more reckless tax cuts, we will be a province of China by 2050.

]]> By: William Crim http://donklephant.com/2006/12/19/how-much-does-the-government-owe/comment-page-1/#comment-163412 William Crim Wed, 20 Dec 2006 07:12:33 +0000 http://donklephant.com/2006/12/19/how-much-does-the-government-owe/#comment-163412 I think that the single, most useful, change that we can make to government, is to change their accounting rules so that they account for Retirement/Health/Entitlement programs using the same rules as they require business. An accurate picture of risks woudl allow us to either scrap unsustainable programs, or put them on proper funding/benefits trajectories. New social programs would be less controversial if the true future costs were accurate. I think that the single, most useful, change that we can make to government, is to change their accounting rules so that they account for Retirement/Health/Entitlement programs using the same rules as they require business.

An accurate picture of risks woudl allow us to either scrap unsustainable programs, or put them on proper funding/benefits trajectories. New social programs would be less controversial if the true future costs were accurate.

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