RadioBanter - View Single Post - Here it is-BPL full rollout in Va

November 15th 03, 11:42 PM

(N2EY) wrote in message ...
In article , "Kim "
writes:

"Dwight Stewart" wrote in message
nk.net...
As consumers, as Americans, we have to demand government manage
the economy better (as I've previously outlined).

This would be the ruination of the economy. The government is not, never
has been, and never will be competent to manage the economy.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE

HERE HERE

That's all well and good, but you're missing a plain, simple fact: You haven't
defined what "manage the economy" means.

I recall not so long ago the Al Greenspan "had" to put the brakes on
the USA economy. Pffft.

If you define it as Soviet-style central economic planning, then almost anyone
with any sense will agree that it's a recipe for economic disaster, as
demonstrated by what happened in the USSR.

Economic disaster can also occur in an unregulated economy, 1929.

(Largest country in the world, huge
amounts of some of the best if not THE best farmland on earth, and after 70+
years of total control they can't even feed themselves?)

But if you define it as "help things go well", it gets a lot murkier. For
example, in the days following 9-11, the Feds helped out the airline industry
in a big way with low interest loans. They were concerned that the loss of
business in the wake of the events of that terrible day would have caused the
collapse of several major airlines. Was that good management of the economy or
not?

Like Governors giving Tax Exemptions to large corporations that locate
in their state. After 10 years, when the tax exemptions go away, the
large corporation outsources their work to China/India.

Or look at your federal income taxes. Those of us who are home owners and who
meet certain criteria can deduct home mortgage interest and real estate taxes
on up to 2 residences. This effectively reduces the cost of buying/owning a
home. Would you take that deduction away? Doing so would almost certainly slow
down home sales and construction, and reduce property values all over the
country.

So is home ownership more or less "affordable" than ever?

I'm old enough to remember when *all* consumer interest and sales taxes were
deductible on your income taxes if certain criteria were met. That deduction
pushed consumer spending because it reduced the effective cost of buying on
time. It encouraged people to go into debt, particularly in inflationary times,
because they could pay for today's fun with tomorrow's less-valuable dollars,
*and* deduct the interest and tax costs. But those deductions were removed in
order to "get the government off your back" (and pump more money into the
coffers without 'raising' taxes).

But the government inflates. Why shouldn't citizens try to beat the
gov't at their own money game?

Or look where your taxes are spent. NASA's launch facilities for manned space
flights are in Florida - because the orbital mechanics and safety
considerations make Florida about the optimum place for a launch facility
located in CONUS. But the manned flight center is in Houston Texas - because
that's were LBJ was from. How many extra billions of dollars that contributed
nothing to the space flight efforts have been spent over the decades because
the two facilities are so far apart?

We could outsourse to China and save even more billions, right?

No matter what the government does about the economy, the effects are
widespread and have the effect, wanted or not, of "managing" the economy in
some way or another.

73 de Jim, N2EY

True.