Monty, over at Ace of Spades:
Governments the world over are discovering that the river of money is not endless. That seemingly-inexhaustable mountain of wealth has been turned into an ocean of debt that will take decades to pay off. The spendthrift habits of the Western nations will put burdens on our children, and other generations not yet born, that should outrage us as a people. We are investing in the old rather than the young, and are punishing risk-taking and entrepreneurship rather than rewarding it. Our tax regimes seem to be deliberately crafted to kill innovation and long-term thinking. (What does "legacy" mean if the wealth I have accumulated in my life cannot be passed on to my children or heirs, but is instead eaten by the all-consuming government?) Young people -- young families -- are the foundation upon which Western Civilization is built. Neglect them, overburden them, cheat them, and you are committing societal suicide.The premise of democracy is that the people, who live in the world and market, are far closer to reality than a prince sealed off by decorum and thick castle walls. That premise is about to be tested.
Read the whole thing.
UPDATE: "I need teens to be having more kids, pronto! Legitimate, illegitimate, I don’t care — somebody’s got to pay my Social Security."
2 comments:
This is a good article. I don't understand where our countries illusion of us doing well and going somewhere is coming from. The media obviously, as it is not based in the truth. On a individual level, if your debt exceeds your ability to pay it off, a sour bankruptcy may be coming or atleast a hard time of sacrifices. Does the government not understand the basic principals of debt? Obviously not our government who wants to push this economical experiment thats forsure. Do they comprehend what a billion dollars is? How about a trillion and yet thats where our national debt figures are going. How can can a country do well when the "success" is is a puffed up lie. The core governments are rotten with debt. A surprising amount of Individuals are rotten at the core with debt. I see a callapse coming. If someone argues and tells me otherwise, they had better show me more than what the media does. "Look at this gowth. Commodities rose putting our dollar at parody with the US" Where is the gold in the bank to give value to that dollar bank note? The bank is empty. Further more, we are in debt and owe everything to an enity outside of our country. Our dollar is play money keeping a sinking ship motoring through the water!
This irked me. It said on the radio that the municipal government is building a multi million dollar sports center in a small community. It will prove to be a money pit as all other arenas, sports centers ect are. Are they blind to the fact that most recreational centers finacial expectations are never met and most need to be bailed out. Thats why the private sector won't invest in them. There is no money in a "2 pad ice areana for kids hockey" in a agricultural region. They are so proud of this blind investment of tax money because their kids will get to play hockey.
The next thing I heard on the news was how the municipal government has set its infrastructure budget for the next 10 years and that they are way short on funds..... Huh. We can't afford to keep our roads together and we are building these recreational centers. Our priorities are wrong. I see the need for places to have our kids spend their time in healthy environments, but not at the cost of local infatructure and a list could go on. What good is the facility if there are no roads to get to it. I think we put the cart before the horse here.
A fraction of the money the government will spend on this arena could be spent to interest the private sector in building something like it. If they cant get any interest they had better be asking why.
A key principal in getting out of debt or keeping a budget are making good sacrifices. Our leaders don't understand that and it scars me
I think part of the problem is that our public officials don't want to fund basic, boring things like roads when they can fund exciting progress-y things like sports centers. They're like this because the political class is a self-selecting group of do-gooders for the most part, who have small experience with actual business decisions. Casting dollars into the stratosphere is hopeful, risk-taking; funding roads is bourgeois.
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