Even though the unwashed masses decided that I didn’t win my stimulus debate in New York City, I continue my fight for the hearts and minds of the American people.
I’m now taking part in a debate for U.S. News & World Report on “Who Is Handling Its Debt Crisis Better: United States or Europe?”
This was a tough question. I asked the organizer whether I could vote none of the above, but I was told I had to pick an option.
As you can see, I said the United States was doing a better job – but only by default.
Our long-run outlook is grim, but at least we still have time to reform the entitlement programs and save America… The only major difference is that European nations are farther down the path to fiscal collapse. The welfare state was adopted earlier in Europe and government spending among euro nations now consumes a staggering 49 percent of economic output. This heavy fiscal burden, especially when combined with onerous tax systems, helps explain why growth is anemic. …the United States still can turn things around. Greece, Italy, and other welfare states have probably passed the point of no return, but it’s still possible for American lawmakers to fix the entitlement crisis by turning Medicaid over to the states , modernizing Medicare into a premium-support system, and transitioning to a system of personal retirement accounts for younger workers. If those reforms don’t take place, the consequences won’t be pleasant. To be blunt, there won’t be an IMF to bail out the United States.
For all intents and purposes, I contend that America can be saved if something like the Ryan budget is approved.
You can vote on this page on whether you like or dislike what I said, as well as what the other participants said.
[…] to readers of International Liberty, I’ve prevailed in previous debates on double taxation, European fiscal policy, flat tax, Internet taxation, and […]
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[…] prevailed in previous debates on makers-v-takers, double taxation, European fiscal policy, flat tax, Internet taxation, and Obamanomics. With your support, I can keep that good streak […]
[…] to readers of International Liberty, I’ve prevailed in previous debates on double taxation, European fiscal policy, flat tax, Internet taxation, and Obamanomics. Rate this:Share […]
[…] had good luck in these debates, coming in first place in debates on double taxation, European fiscal policy, flat tax, and Obamanomics, so I don’t want to break the […]
[…] than Europe’s welfare states. And I’ve participated in an online debate where I argued that Europe is in worse shape than the United […]
[…] You folks have helped me prevail in some of my online debates for U.S. News and World Report (see here, here, here, and here), so don’t hesitate to cast a vote for Veronique and against cronyism. […]
[…] I did come out ahead (at least in online voting) in previous U.S. News & World Report debates, one on the desirability of double taxation and the other on the fiscal crisis in Europe and the United States. […]
[…] won my previous debate for U.S. News, so I’m hoping the keep a good thing going. As they say in Chicago, vote early and vote […]
[…] the way, if you like my argument, feel free to vote for my entry on this page. I won my previous debate for U.S. News, so I’m hoping the keep a good thing going. Rate this: Share […]
[…] This is not to excuse the reckless behavior of national politicians. It is their destructive spending policies that are leading both the United States and Europe in a race to fiscal collapse. […]
I am not an economist, but it only takes a logical mind to recognize that both Europe and USA are on unsustainable paths. That others do not see this is not necessarily because they do not have logical minds, but rather they do not want to see. Seeing is too threatening for many. Sadly, too many humans want to live in a dream world, only to face the dire consequences the moment it happens and being angry because of reality is at it is.
[…] this month, I took part in an online debate for U.S. News & World Report about whether Europe or the United States was in deeper fiscal […]
detroit news marc jacobs
Assumption of normalacy. If the judas goat in the media appears to be calm, then why get excited?
If you are in a car heading toward a cliff and you’ve just watched the little European car drive off the edge wouldn’t you at least stop or turn around? I understand your comment we are simply winning by default because they are further down the road to disaster. I just don’t understand why we don’t at least panic! jk 😉
reminds me when they ask my colleague which currency is better – dollar or euro, his typical answer looks like – it is the same if you had two retards and asking me which one is wiser :)))
America may be behind Europe on its path to decline. But its fate of decline is also sealed. One only has to recall that the American people, in their infinite wisdom, elected Obama to correct Bush’s mistakes. With a large proportion of Americans believing that current ills can be attributed to not enough HopeNChange while most of the remainder believing in some sort of metaphysical destiny of prosperity for America, the path to decline is sealed.
And here is the Grecian vicious cycle now emerging in America:
1. As the American people enter their dream of more collective control over the economy , politics enters economic activity,
2. As politics enters economic activity, wealth starts correlating more and more with political connections and less and less with competence and hard work. You move from the wealth of Steve Jobs to the wealth of Solyndra and GM executives,
3. With the correlation between wealth and corruption settling in, ever more understandably (but suicidally) the people begin to hate the rich more and more,
4. The people ask for more collective control of the economy to correct the injustices
The vicious cycle closes, the path to decline deepens.
So don’t be foolish and go out trying to become a hero against HopeNChange. The pitchforks are out. The moment they catch whiff that you became successful by creating 10-20 million worth of wealth to the economy, inventing some new medical cure, some new way to produce energy etc. they’ll be after the final one million you were allowed to keep for yourself after taxes. So long as you have more, nothing will ever be enough to quell the ever more desperate pitchforks of decline.
So, for once, do take the left’s advice: “Money does not bring happiness” and it brings even less if you have to surrender half to the people, and spend the rest of your life defending the remaining half from the pitchforks.
So just lay low and enjoy yourself with the 1001 non-pecuniary activities available to most humans. Activities that can greatly increase your standard of living while, at the same time — since they do not involve money — are below the radar and reach of the pitchforks. So let someone else work for HopeNChange. Drop out, spend more time at the beach, learn yoga, read books, spend more time with your spouse, watch movies on a cheap couch, less stress, play the guitar, take a walk every morning, nobody can take these things away form you, not even the pitchforks. And if you already made 2-3-4 million, get a sailboat and head to the Carribean. Let the pitchforks work for HopeNChange and let them figure out how Americans will maintain the 6x world average prosperity they have taken for granted against the backdrop of welfare state incentives to create wealth. Welcome to the European thinking… enjoy the decline…
Both sides are afflicted w/ too much government greed. When (not if) Europe stalls out is the only question.
The speculation is will it be:
[a] horrible
[b] catastrophic
[c] an unmitigated disaster of a size that has never been seen before.
A or B might not be so bad; it might turn into C in which case the best investment will be fire arms, ammunition and body armor.
The insanity of both plans only becomes evident once you realize that the graph only plots the expenditure per year. What would be more clear would be a graph that shows the total debt accumulating for each year under both plans, when both are secretly predicated on only having an income to the federal government of about 2 trillion.
The difference between the plans is whether we run off the economic cliff at 150 miles per hour, or a year later at 100 miles per hour. And it may not even be a year later. It may happen at the same time based on world events that have nothignto do with EITHER plan.
This is just a question of which insanity can be sold to the public now.