[quidnunc]

If you're one of those who refuses to register with the LA Times, just move on to another thread because I don't want to hear about it!

Besides, if you haven't read Gelernter's article you can't comment on it intelligently.

[Irene Adler]

Okay, I am not going to register so I can read the article, but I do regret being unable to read a piece by David Gelerntner who is a very good writer. He suffered a maiming injury in one of the Unabomber's attacks and was very nearly killed. He is a fine conservative thinker, and I always pay attention to his work.

[Willie Green]

Besides, if you haven't read Gelernter's article you can't comment on it intelligently.

Well Gelernter certainly hasn't contributed anything new to intelligent discussion.
Instead, he trots out the same old lame excuses and pack of lies:

• Blame everything on Klintoon.
  Anything bad with the economy started before Dubya took office.
• The United States is infinitely rich. Therefore it doesn't matter how much we spend and go into debt.
  Make an irrelevant comparison of deficits to GDP.
  Ignore all other forms of debt that must be serviced by our domestic economy.
  Ignore that close to 20% of federal revenue is already dedicated to make just the interest payments on the debt.
• Understanding our economy is like buying a pizza.

Gelertner is an idiot.

[Gunslingr3]

Oh, yes. Thanks. Thanks a thousand times over for spending billions of dollars you don't have year after year. Thanks again for creating new entitlements so that over half of the federal budget can continue to be robbing Peter to pay Paul for Paul's vote. And in case I forget, let me say thanks for spending all those trillions collected for Social Security, and then expecting future generations to go without so you can have that tax money spent on you again.

[Chairman Fred]

Or just use the VRWC Universal Password:

username: Hildabeast
password: Isaliar

Works every time.

[Miss Marple]

Good article, and worth registering for. An interesting take on the deficit, and one that bears some consideration.

Thanks, quidnunc!

[Jaysun]

I'm not sure that I understand where Gelernter was going, or where he ended up. There weren't any (in my opinion) reasonable explanations as to why our boys seem to have developed a chronic spending fetish. Also, I disagree with his using the tax cuts in the deficit equation because the tax cuts amount to 1% of the budget when you get right down to it. A 1% spread out over a decade. They have a hard time keeping spending increases under 6% over the previous year. It's the same dance with a bit nicer music - they're spending too much.

[AZLiberty]

Overthrowing tyrants is a gift that keeps giving. Howard Dean's grandchildren will bless George W. Bush. And if future generations wind up paying part of the tab, I doubt they will whine. More likely they will thank us, and write books about what a great generation we were.

In the past few decades "we" have borrowed money to fund the silicon revolution, the genomics revolution, the environmental revolution (yes, Virginia, the air and water really are cleaner than they were 40 years ago), the Internet, and the democratic revolution in Eastern Europe. We're borrowing money now to keep the world safe from Islamofascists.

This will more than make up for the money wasted on the War on Poverty, the War on Drugs, the War on Republicans, and other insane governmental schemes.

Our grandchildren will, indeed, thank us.

[qam1]

What a freaking Moron.

Comparing the deficit to a 20 year mortgage?

"if I take out a 20-year mortgage on my house, that doesn't mean I'm inflicting my debts on my children or the next generation."

Well it does if you take out a 20-year mortgage every year and then saddle your kids with the interest payment

Typical me,me,me,me Live for the moment baby boomer. He even states as such in the last paragraph, To paraphrase/translate his whole point "Who cares about long term economics as long as we are living the good life right now"