4 ms·

That's not really true if they're refusing to push the Keynesian levers for ideological reasons. snort Everyone's a Keynesian when it's time to spend but Keyne

by gaius 10y ago

That's not really true if they're refusing to push the Keynesian levers for ideological reasons. snort Everyone's a Keynesian when it's time to spend but Keynes also said to pay down your debts on the upswing of the cycle, and guess what everyone didn't do?

acjohnson55 10y ago
...But that doesn't make them wrong. That just makes society spineless when it's time to start the unglamorous work paying back.
- tormeh 10y ago
  Being impossible in practice because of political dynamics isn't particularly great for a policy suggestion, though.
  - acjohnson55 10y ago
    You simply need to change the dynamic. We have the Fed, which is structured to insulate our monetary policy from politics, and it has worked quite nicely for the past 70 years. It's not insane to imagine doing something similar for at least some aspects of our fiscal policy.
eli_gottlieb 10y ago
Well, I was a teenager before the housing bubble went bust, but I'm just fine with paying higher taxes in boom times. Don't snort at me: raise my taxes! It's what I'm already voting for. Tax me and my high-tech salary. It can pay for schools and trains in my own community, it can pay down the national debt, etc. Redistribute my wealth, because I'm exceptionally well-off for my age group.
- r_smart 10y ago
  Why not just make voluntary contributions to organizations you support? Governmental or otherwise. Why wait for someone to take it from you when you could give it instead?
  - eli_gottlieb 10y ago
    I already do that. I spend more money on each organization I support each month than I do on cable internet.
    - r_smart 10y ago
      So then are there just no organizations other than government that can get done what you want? Why advocate for higher taxes rather than upping your voluntary contributions? I just listened to this [0] Sam Harris podcast episode yesterday so it's kind of on my mind, though this is admittedly a tangential issue to the podcast. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxStuUxaZxQ&t=4171s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxStuUxaZxQ&t=4171s

by gaius 10y ago

acjohnson55 10y ago

...But that doesn't make them wrong. That just makes society spineless when it's time to start the unglamorous work paying back.

tormeh 10y ago
Being impossible in practice because of political dynamics isn't particularly great for a policy suggestion, though.
- acjohnson55 10y ago
  You simply need to change the dynamic. We have the Fed, which is structured to insulate our monetary policy from politics, and it has worked quite nicely for the past 70 years. It's not insane to imagine doing something similar for at least some aspects of our fiscal policy.

eli_gottlieb 10y ago

Well, I was a teenager before the housing bubble went bust, but I'm just fine with paying higher taxes in boom times. Don't snort at me: raise my taxes! It's what I'm already voting for. Tax me and my high-tech salary. It can pay for schools and trains in my own community, it can pay down the national debt, etc. Redistribute my wealth, because I'm exceptionally well-off for my age group.

r_smart 10y ago
Why not just make voluntary contributions to organizations you support? Governmental or otherwise. Why wait for someone to take it from you when you could give it instead?
- eli_gottlieb 10y ago
  I already do that. I spend more money on each organization I support each month than I do on cable internet.
  - r_smart 10y ago
    So then are there just no organizations other than government that can get done what you want? Why advocate for higher taxes rather than upping your voluntary contributions? I just listened to this [0] Sam Harris podcast episode yesterday so it's kind of on my mind, though this is admittedly a tangential issue to the podcast. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxStuUxaZxQ&t=4171s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxStuUxaZxQ&t=4171s