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November 27, 2012

The Unmentionable Solution to the Fiscal Cliff

Justin Katz

Watch public policy even for a short while and the trick becomes evident. Whether we're talking my hometown of Tiverton, Rhode Island, (population 15,780) or the federal government, the maneuver is to claim increasing amounts of power and make sure that's the one thing not on the table when something has to give.

Thus, we get massive government interwoven like a terrible tumor around the vital organs of our economy. When the predictable illness follows, the two operations suggested, as if in opposition, are cuts on the spending side and increases on the revenue side.

Either, we're told, is apt to drive the patient into shock. The government can take money out of the economy through taxes, or it can stop putting money into the economy via cuts. That's not much of a choice.

Continue reading on the Ocean State Current...

Comments

Hmm, unmentionable, eh? Is it cutting bloated military spending?

(notably that's totally unmentioned in Justin's rambling piece about tumors or something).

Posted by: Russ at November 28, 2012 9:11 AM

It's actually pretty comical to suggest that deregulation is both the cause and the solution to the current economic problems. Dean Baker has a more interesting take on what's really the unmentionable solution...

finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/did-social-security-medicare-crash-economy-002638924.html

Posted by: Russ at November 28, 2012 1:03 PM