Friday, December 23, 2005

Starve the beast, part 2

In my forthcoming book, which will be published by the Cambridge University Press, I address the “starve the beast” view at what I consider a more fundamental level.

BTW, the two leading candidates for the book’s title at this point are: (1) “The Abuse of Fiscal Language and the U.S. Government’s March Towards Bankruptcy,” and (2) “The Use and Abuse of Fiscal Language: Taxes, Spending, and the U.S. Government’s March Towards Bankruptcy.” I prefer # 2 aesthetically, but am inclined to accept counsel that # 1 is better commercially.

In the book, I address the problems with using deficits instead of long-term fiscal measures. But this is only Exhibit # 2 in how fiscal language has encouraged making things worse.

Exhibit # 1 is the use of the terms “taxes” and “spending” as proxies for determining the size of government. Thus, if the government were to give me $1 billion which I immediately handed back, simplistic idiots would say: “There’s just been a billion dollars of taxes and spending!” I would say that really nothing has happened.

No idle hypothetical – Social Security, for example, has aspects of this, although there is a greater time lag and the cash you get back may not equal, in time-adjusted value, the cash you put back. But this means it’s the aspects of non-equivalence, not the gross cash flows each way, that determine how significant the whole thing is.

The size of government, I’d say, is a concept that, in the budgetary realm, involves trying to quantify the effects of government policy, relative to some baseline that has to be specified, on allocation and distribution – on what we have and who has it. (I limit this to the budgetary realm because issues such as civil liberties operate in different dimensions.)

Once you take this perspective, the utter inadequacy of discerning how much the government is doing from the number of dollars associated with discrete and often offsetting cash flows becomes pretty clear.

Against this background, what does “starve the beast” accomplish even if there are large spending cuts in future years? (Note: there will almost certainly be large tax increases as well.) Point 1: It definitely increases redistribution, by handing vast sums of extra money to older generations at the expense of younger generations. (Older generations were huge net winners even before the whole exercise started.) Point 2: It probably increases government-induced economic distortion, what with the heightened disparity between tax rates in different periods, the instability and risk of fiscal crisis throughout the adjustment process (which may become chronic rather than coming to an end), etc.

If any “starve the beast” advocate whatsoever has actually tried to think through how the adjustment process is likely to go, and in particular why my analysis would NOT be correct, I certainly have yet to hear it. They are seemingly determined not to look past their own noses.

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why can't you call it The March to Bankruptcy with a big subtitle that incorporates the gist of fiscal language abuse but perhaps in plainer words?

Quite frankly, even though it may be a wonderful book, your proposed titles are boring.

Daniel Shaviro said...

Frankness appreciated, Anonymous. Better to be told now than to find out later.

Anonymous said...

Hi: I'm working on a California legal directory site and was looking for good information on California drunk driving defense and can upon your site. I glanced thru your Blog, I found it wasn't really what I was looking for. With that said, I must say I've enjoyed reading it.

Anonymous said...

Sick site, I like the way you put it together.

interior design articles related to color
http://www.information-hookup.net/

Regards,
Gerald E.
http://www.information-hookup.net/
interior design articles related to color

Anonymous said...

Nice colors for the template

Irish Schools of Interior Design
http://www.information-hookup.net/

Regards,
Gerald E.
http://www.information-hookup.net/
Irish Schools of Interior Design

Anonymous said...

I looked at several sites during this search but yours was the best I found on this subject. Keep up the good work.

Anonymous said...

Hello my dear internet friends! I have some very exiting news. A lot of you know me pretty well now and have helped me a lot. I sincerely appreciate you and I want to do the same for you. Please take a moment to check out this excellent opportunity. I am so very proud to be a part of this business, I just don't have the space I need here to fully express my gratitude and I know you will feel the same way I do. You can even try it out at no charge. Take some time to explore and learn what could be one of the most significant aspects in your life. You will not be wasting your time and I will be honored for you to be my guest. You will love this... Please give me a chance to prove it to you. Click here: financial independence It elegantly covers financial independence related ideas and FREE information. Sincerely, Scott.

Anonymous said...

Hey, you have a great blog here! You really are very talented and deserve an honest compliment, congradulations! I'm definitely going to bookmark you!

I have a home internet opportunity site/blog. It successfully covers home internet opportunity related stuff.

Come and check it out if you get time, Scott.

Anonymous said...

This is an excellent blog. Keep it going.You are providing
a great resource on the Internet here!
If you have a moment, please take a look at my money making home business idea site.
Have a great week!

Anonymous said...

Your blog is a nice source of build site traffic web related information. I liked reading it.
Regards, Website Traffic Info

Robert said...

I understand what you are saying. But could it be a better way to get information on advertising cheaply.Without all the Hype that come's with it.
http://www.mybusinessmarketingcenter.com

TonyJ said...

money and employment can help solve your search for the latest in clickbank products. Visit http://www.make-money-online-biz.info/ and help yourself to the large selection of available clickbank products. Visit money and employment today.

Anonymous said...

We are creating life-changing incomes with our own incredibly unique and lucrative home business!

TonyJ said...

best online survey can help solve your search for the latest in clickbank products. Visit http://www.make-money-online-biz.info and help yourself to the large selection of available clickbank products. Visit best online survey today.

Anonymous said...

WATCH CAREFULLY...Here it is... FREE advertising, FREE download. No cost to you! Get your FREE download NOW! Make money and get FREE advertising! This is a great program for you to take advantage of... Check this out now for FREE!

To find out more visit: residual income opportunity site. It successfully exposes FREE information covering traffic and residual income opportunity related stuff. Don't forget, FREE, FREE, FREE!!!

Anonymous said...

WARNING: A new immensely powerful viral marketing system has been released, which allows marketers to broadcast messages directly to people's desktops. Learn more about it here: Build Your Business Online site. It pretty much covers Build Your Business Online related stuff and it is FREE to join.

Anonymous said...

http://www.moneymakersecrets.com/firstmoneysecrets/ First Time To The Market work from home data entry jobs
Enjoy the opportunity, change your life -work from home data entry jobs. Don't Miss work from home data entry jobs - Visit Today...http://www.moneymakersecrets.com/firstmoneysecrets/

Anonymous said...

Nice blog!! I'm into make money with affiliate program and to drive traffic to my website I signed up free for this superb traffic gereating tool - I now have loads of hits to my websites and blogs. This can see your affiliate commission shoot through the roof - meaning lots of extra money coming in for you and your family. Sign up now - it's free.. Best of luck, cheers for now, dave.

Anonymous said...

The Internet Marketing Genius, Carael Knight

Information powers our world. The more information you have, the more money you make. It used to be you had to go to an expensive business school or spend years becoming a doctor or lawyer to have valuable information people would pay big money for.

Not anymore. Today ANYONE can use FREE classified ads to sell information demanded daily by MILLIONS of people. Think about it. These days when somebody wants to know how to do something, they GO ONLINE and look for INFORMATION to tell them how to do it.

My name is Carael Knight. I started Major Enterprise about seven years ago with a vision and a plan.

The vision was to show people how to start, run, and operate their own profitable online business. Now that led me to create the plan, which was the process of carrying out the vision!

Click Here for more information:

The Internet Marketing Genius, Carael Knight

Anonymous said...

I'll put it straight forward. Money is free.

This company will pay you $5 for every person who signs up for free being your affiliate. We all like free money as it is available to us, so I thought I'd let you know.

All you need to do is get them to sign up for free, and you make your money.

You could also decide to promote their winning programs and make up to 75% per sale!!

But, the easy part is to get $5 per person for free! They sign up being an affiliate for one of the best performing and converting affiliate programs available today.

The best thing is, that just as you can, they can start making money this way. Imagine you get 500 people to sign up for free monthly.

That is $2500 extra. For free!

You will also start to make commission on any sales the affiliates you have brought in too!
The one who brings in the most new affiliates gets to choose a huge price like a massive flatscreens, laptops and more.

Too good to be true? Check yourself!

To sign up for this amazing offer (for free) you go here:

http://freemoney.moneyisfree.com

Or click Free money

Enjoy!

Anonymous said...

Multiple streams of income - Who Else Wants To Earn Thousands Of Dollars Per Month With A System That Virtually Runs 100% On Autopilot!? Start Making Money Within One Hour From Now! YOU Can Make Money Online Even If You're a Complete Newbie! And Yes, You Can Join From Anywhere In The World.. We 100% GUARANTEE Your Success.. HONESTLY! - Make money with Multiple streams of income!

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I like your cool blog and the useful info in your post. I also have a web site & blog about Work at Home so I know what I'm talking about when I say your site is top-notch! Keep up the great work!

Anonymous said...

Nice Blog. I will keep reading. Please visit my blog at:

The Internet Marketing Genius, Carael Knight

Anonymous said...

Live, Retire or Invest in Panama. Paradise is the magazine for the Guide to living, retirement or investing in Central America's Land of Opportunity, Panama Real Estate Investors: Learn about Life in Panama. Panama is paradise for those who love wildlife and water. Panama has the highest ratio of coastline compared to land area of any Latin American country. A must read for retirees, investors and vacationers.

Anonymous said...

I recently stumbled on on a powerful money making manual of how a disabled mother of the U.S. Army Went From $0 - $12,000 / Month in 4 Months Flat! She knows here stuff. I bought the manual myself and it has helped me increase my sales ratio by 500 percent!

Carael Knight

Holly Mann shares with you a money-making secret that made $100 within two hours of implementing it. It really is a powerful method. It's a different way to make money online - costs you nothing in advertising and would not be considered "work." You will be surprised how easy it is.

SEE EARNINGS HERE

For those of you who do NOT have a website, she provides detailed information telling you exactly how to make money through affiliate programs with no site, no advertising costs and very little "work." It's something you could profit from by putting in only an hour to two hours per day - and you can start making money with these techniques right NOW.

Do you want a Professionally Designed, FREE website right away so you can pull in even more money? If you would like to have a website but aren't experienced with designing and maintaining sites and all else that is involved, she tell you exactly how to get a FREE website setup within 5 minutes with NO costs whatsoever. Plus, you never have to pay for hosting and you don't need any real web design experience.

Also, for the advanced internet gurus and entrepreneurs - you will increase your earnings after you read this e-book, "guaranteed". You will discover new ways to increase your revenue like I did and many other different techniques that you never thought of trying. Her strategies are proven successful and are highly profitable.

Carael Knight

You don't have to spend a dime on advertising anymore. Keep 100% profits. Not only is it possible (also, see proven success stories......) but it is feasible if you follow the steps in her manual. She provides more detailed information about different money making techniques with and without a website and low-cost and FREE advertising and site promotion.

The Internet Marketing Genius, Carael Knight

She also provides a DETAILED guide to Search Engine Optimization - What to do and how to do it - giving you the exact information about how to get ALL of your websites to the top 5 position of EVERY search engine! I've also noticed that EVERY SINGLE website she have optimized for her specific keywords has reached the top 1-5 ranking - EVERY ONE TO THIS DAY!!! SEO is the single most important tool in making money online because without site visitors - your internet venture is worthless.

She will share the secret to how she doubled her website's revenue within a month by implementing a search engine positioning technique (which only took three hours to do). And she will tell YOU exactly how you can do it too.

Make Money Online

Anonymous said...

Anyone looking for a great home business opportunity needs to check out a recently launched program called the EDC Gold. We are having tremendous success with this program. You can check out the program at http://www.amazingopp.com/ In addition, we also provide a guarantee of success with this program for member of our FREE website called the Global Home Business Resource Center . You can check out this website at http://www.globalhbrc.com

Anonymous said...

Very interesting blog. With valuable information and tips.
It is a pleasure to read, even the archives.
Take the time to visit the following info at Click Here!"

Anonymous said...

Small Business Information If you've got questions, I've got answers.

Anonymous said...

This is a great Blog! But if you want to really
Work at home with a system that is as good and
as simple as owning your own ATM Cash Machine!
ATM CASH

Anonymous said...

Adwords Ads Now Free?

A new breakthrough secret is all you now need in order to get your Google AdWords pay-per-clicks FREE!
http://tinyurl.com/2xxp98

A gentleman from New York discovered what he calls an "oversight" on the part of 99.9% of all marketers that allows him to get otherwise paid-for advertising at Google as well as all other search engines that allow sponsored ads.

http://tinyurl.com/2xxp98

And no, nothing about his "secret" is illegal - nor does it require that you know someone on the "inside" at Google, Yahoo, MSN, Overture and others.

Instead, the New Yorker boasts proudly "...this is something that I caught onto just before 2000 when there was so much search engine craze running around, and started doing small just to test things at first ... but which I later expanded on after getting the hang of it."

This same fellow went on to start and operate sixteen separate online companies selling everything from pet food, DVDs, children's toys & games, books, software, and sold not only his own manufactured products but became an affiliate for other web businesses - all the while applying his mastermind secret.

http://tinyurl.com/2xxp98

Over the course of nearly eight years the New Englander confesses "I've actually gotten over $87 million in advertising that using my secret I never had to pay for ... and the largest share of which was more recently in Google pay-per-clicks as well as other forms of pad advertising at search engines ... all of which I got for free ..."

So powerful is his secret that he's able to monopolize any niche online, and can always secure the top premium spots just above the usual organic results featured at most search engines.

He still has to set up an account with the search engines - but after applying his secret he is removed from having to pay for all the costs otherwise involved.
Again, nothing about his secret is either illegal or robs from the search engines.

One spokesperson from one of the most popular search engines said chuckling after being made privy to this amazing secret "Wow! Ha! This is really unique ... and in my expert opinion it would only serve to enhance and bring more business to us at [name of search engine withheld for legal & confidentiality reasons] and not cause us to lose business in the slightest. Amazing!"

The northerner revealed that in this nearly eight years' period of time since applying his secret he's done well over $300 million in sales revenue with a most diverse line of products, and most recently in the last two years netted nearly $166 million after really "buckling down and pressing my secret to its fullest potential."

Now to everyone else's fortune, the city slicker is releasing his secret for getting an unlimited amount of pay-per-click ads to the general public. But he's not promising any of us for how long.

A bit of an eccentric, the gentleman says "We'll see just how long I can make it available before it saturates things."

One famous public web guru pointed out that although this man may gain economically more so as a result of the publication of his secret "he's already so amazingly rich that whether he continues or discontinues its sale will neither make nor break the man, but not grabbing it for yourself while it's still available could prove disastrous for you as you may only have one chance, and a very limited one at that, to get this."

It is currently available at:

http://tinyurl.com/2xxp98

...so you may want to head on over there now and get it.

It's in a very easily readable format and is quickly and readily understood and mastered by anyone with even a 4th grade reading level.

While you're there, why not scroll down and review for yourself the huge successes others are now having with this incredible breakthrough in targeted advertising now made freely available to the rest of us?

To your success,

Phil Forbes

Anonymous said...

With the increase of affiliate marketing programs, many affiliate software are being developed these days. The affiliate software that tracks your affiliate business is known as affiliate tracking software. Some manufacturers give you free benefits on buying the software from them.

Tracking software keeps a track of leads, clicks, sales and all the other activities visitors undertake in your website.

The use of this software increases the flow of traffic to your sites. It also helps in increasing sales. You save a lot of time that you can use in other constructive activity for your site.

With the use of this software you will pay only for what your affiliates sell and thus save a lot of your money.

The software must provide you with direct linking capability. This enables you to establish a direct link with all of your affiliates. The software must be able to support multiple sites.

You will require this capability to support all the sites you are working with.

The software does not come freely. You will have to pay some amount to enjoy the benefit of these software. They can be obtained either by paying a monthly rental or an amount of money annually.

The affiliate tracking software tells you where your business is heading. The software provides a high level of system automation that enables you to focus on your creative marketing and other efforts.

The basic purpose of this software is to give you peace of mind. The emphasis should be on simplicity without any hassles. You must be able to sit back and enjoy the benefits of your affiliate business.

If you do not have the right affiliate tracking software then you will not be able to benefit from affiliate marketing benefits.

Work at Home The Most Reliable Work at Home Business On The Web!

cheap all inclusive holidays to Bodrum said...

Cheapest All Inclusive Holidays to Turkey 2024|PlanMyTour
Book Cheap All Inclusive Holidays to Turkey for 2024 with PlanMyTour. Get Deals on turkey holidays with meals, hotels & flights included. £199pp and ATOL Protected.
https://planmytour.co.uk/cheap-holidays-to-turkey-all-inclusive