I’m a bit of a nag on getting people to realize that deficits are not the nation’s main fiscal problem. Government borrowing isn’t desirable, to be sure, but our real concern should be a government that is too big and spending too much.
I even created a Bob Dole Award to chastise people who mistakenly focus on red ink when they should be worried about the overall burden of government spending.
But I may have to give myself the award because I very much enjoyed these two cartoons.
Here’s one from Jerry Holbert, showing Obama blithely unconcerned about the looming debt catastrophe.
Except it’s really an entitlement problem, which is why I would have given the zombies names like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.
And this Ken Catalino cartoon sort of makes the same point, but focusing specifically on the fiscal boondoggle known as Obamacare.
For those who don’t get the “mint” reference, it comes from a disgustingly amusing scene in a Monty Python movie.
And since I’ve already linked to scenes in another Monty Python movie, that gives you an idea of the type of humor I appreciate.
But the serious point to this post is that we will face a fiscal crisis at some point if government isn’t put on a diet.
Waiting for the crises to actually occur is a recipe for wretched consequences, as we can see from Greece, Italy, Spain, etc.
[…] of this post. Other examples of shutdown-related humor can be enjoyed by clicking here, here, here, here, […]
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[…] of this post, and other examples of shutdown-related humor can be enjoyed by clicking here, here, here, here, […]
[…] other words, the bottom line is a) that tax hikes don’t work, b) reform is harder if you wait until a crisis has begun, and c) the real challenge is convincing politicians to do the right thing when they instinctively […]
[…] P.P.S. You can enjoy some good debt limit cartoons by clicking here and here. […]
[…] P.S. I very much enjoy cartoon that portray Washington as a flat slob. For other examples, see here, here,here, here, here and here. […]
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[…] Even Cartoonists Understand that You Shouldn’t Postpone Reforms Until the Fiscal Crisis Has Start… […]
Reblogged this on This Got My Attention and commented:
The Walking Debt
ObamaCare just a mint? One wishes! ObamaCare is the super size family combo pizza of welfare programs.
And its massive cost and eventual expense overrun will not even be the major effect on the economy. The major effect will be the indolence and loss of competitiveness that inevitably comes when you tell people: “Don’t worry sweating out how to earn your aggregate health benefits at some point in your life or another. If you don’t, someone else will pay. Go out and play”. It truly is the decisive nail on the coffin of American competitiveness and prosperity supremacy in the world.
BTW, this is the actual “One last ‘little’ welfare program for the federal government” video…
…but as I said, its another super size family combo pizza, not a mint.
The French setting fits well.
One explanation why reforms are not undertaken, when it is obvious to all that they are necessary, comes from Daniel Kahneman’s excellent book: “Thinking fast and slow.” In it he describes why individuals [i.e. Ben Bernanke] act irrationally and are unwilling to admit mistakes. Instead, they go “all in” even with low probability of success.
This prognosis does not bode well for the Eurozone or for the US in the coming crisis. The “experts” that we depend on have the same human failings as the rest of us, and when central planners make mistakes, they make systemic mistakes.