9/30 When people say "fiscal conservative." What do they mean by that?
Is fiscal "responsible" i.e. no deficit spending a "conservative"
or "liberal" platform traditionally?
\_ Various definitions, several of them very, er, interesting.
Generally means don't spend more than you can bring in as tax
revenues, don't spend one-time revenues (i.e. increased taxes
during boom times) on long-term commitments, keep as much spending
as possible in the private sector and only spend public money
on services that the private sector would probably not invest in
if left to its own (see Adam Smith), keep taxes low to make more
private income available to spend on goods and services.
Essentially, the same sort of common-sense money management that
private individuals ought to engage in. Most implementations have
some problems, like the EU's stability pact, which prevents
governments from 'priming the pump' to kick-start their economies,
if their deficits are already too high, and the fact that many
elected representatives try to bolster their electoral popularity
through sometimes unnecessary spending "at home". And let's face
it, you'll be hard-pressed to find two people who'll agree
entirely on who should be taxed how much on what. -John
\_ It means fiscally conservative: e.g. only spend and increase
national debt to fund issues like: defense, anti-immigrant,
big-tax-cuts-for-wealthy-few, pro-business-let-them-do-what-
they-want-no-oversight-Enron, anti-environmental-regulation.
\_ Are you angry? -John |
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