If you can’t starve it, beat it into submission
’Starve the Beast’ Doesn’t Work is a great piece by Clive Crook. It explains why cutting taxes to limit government spending just doesn’t work. I had never really thought about it because borrowing money is something, with the single exception of the purchase of my home, I just don’t do. But that’s exactly what government does. Either way, as Crook points out, government is going to feed- if not on tax revenues then through borrowing.
What I believe we have to do is cut spending, and adjust taxes accordingly. Wipe out Social Security for everybody 40 and under, eliminate welfare and other government “give-me” programs, utterly do away with all pork spending, and get government out of about 80% of the rest of the “duties” it has assumed for itself.
If we can’t starve it, we can at least beat it into submission by sending to Washington beast handlers who will cut spending to achieve lower taxes. As Crook noted the arguments in his introduction: lower taxes will not only spur growth but they are simply desirable in their own right as “people should keep as much of their income as possible.”
That’s for sure.
August 26th, 2007 at 12:56 am
Pretty Interesting.