4 ms·

I didn't think it was hard either, and although my solution differed from yours in a few particulars, the core remained the same, as you mention: defense cuts,

I didn't think it was hard either, and although my solution differed from yours in a few particulars, the core remained the same, as you mention: defense cuts, and returning taxes to pre-Clinton levels. If you have those two things in place, the rest becomes a pretty simple Chinese menu to pick and choose from.

eru 16y ago
The retirement and Medicare options also give you huge savings in the long run. (They should probably index the retirement age to life expectancy. That way you wouldn't need to fight huge political battles every decade.)
- tibbon 16y ago
  Right. If we're living longer, why do we need to leave the workforce so early? I'd argue that with the rise of technology, there is less and less of a need to retire even if your body isn't doing as well. Unless my hands and eyes give up, why would I need to stop programming?
  - rdl 16y ago
    Extra benefit to indexing government pensions/retirement to age as well (both requiring longer time in service to be eligible, and to start collecting at a later age). Right now military and law enforcement are largely 20 years and out, and it's easy to do 20 years in the military and then 20 years in law enforcement and double dip.
  - wnoise 16y ago
    > why would I need to stop programming? Age discrimination, unfortunately. Though that might decrease in an increasingly aging U.S.
    - tibbon 16y ago
      I concede that staying relevant is difficult, even for younger people, and that people employing others may have age discrimination- yet people who are doing awesome programming don't have to worry about those things. People like Notch or John Resig will always have work available to them. For all I know, Notch is 80 years old. Doesn't matter though, as he still got my money for Minecraft.
  - bfung 16y ago
    The dis-incentive to retire earlier will leave that person in the job market, and younger people will find it harder to get into the market. I have no proof, but I think this will lead to lower quality of goods in the long run, since the younger people will not have had the as much time to hone their craft as the previous generation of young people did. We'll see soon enough in real life: http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2010/11/labor-force-participation-trends-over.html http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2010/11/labor-force-partic...
tibbon 16y ago
Right. From my perspective the Clinton-era 90's was pretty great economically. It wasn't a terribly climate that hurt companies. Nor did it stop people from investing heavily in companies or growing awesome companies. Stock prices from 1992 to 2000 (approx numbers): Microsoft: $2 to $58 Apple: $15 to $28 Cisco: $.50 to $50 Add in hundreds of companies going public, innovation moving faster than ever up to that point, thousands of jobs created. Small businesses (startups) were not killed by higher taxes. And I have no idea why our defense spending needs to be so high.
- leif 16y ago
  Wasn't there some sort of bubbly thingamajig in tech that ended right about at the end of Clinton? Those numbers sound bubbly. disclaimer, I agree with you, Clinton was great, I'm just not sure the tech market is what to focus on

eru 16y ago

The retirement and Medicare options also give you huge savings in the long run. (They should probably index the retirement age to life expectancy. That way you wouldn't need to fight huge political battles every decade.)

tibbon 16y ago
Right. If we're living longer, why do we need to leave the workforce so early? I'd argue that with the rise of technology, there is less and less of a need to retire even if your body isn't doing as well. Unless my hands and eyes give up, why would I need to stop programming?
- rdl 16y ago
  Extra benefit to indexing government pensions/retirement to age as well (both requiring longer time in service to be eligible, and to start collecting at a later age). Right now military and law enforcement are largely 20 years and out, and it's easy to do 20 years in the military and then 20 years in law enforcement and double dip.
- wnoise 16y ago
  > why would I need to stop programming? Age discrimination, unfortunately. Though that might decrease in an increasingly aging U.S.
  - tibbon 16y ago
    I concede that staying relevant is difficult, even for younger people, and that people employing others may have age discrimination- yet people who are doing awesome programming don't have to worry about those things. People like Notch or John Resig will always have work available to them. For all I know, Notch is 80 years old. Doesn't matter though, as he still got my money for Minecraft.
- bfung 16y ago
  The dis-incentive to retire earlier will leave that person in the job market, and younger people will find it harder to get into the market. I have no proof, but I think this will lead to lower quality of goods in the long run, since the younger people will not have had the as much time to hone their craft as the previous generation of young people did. We'll see soon enough in real life: http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2010/11/labor-force-participation-trends-over.html http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2010/11/labor-force-partic...

tibbon 16y ago

Right. From my perspective the Clinton-era 90's was pretty great economically. It wasn't a terribly climate that hurt companies. Nor did it stop people from investing heavily in companies or growing awesome companies. Stock prices from 1992 to 2000 (approx numbers): Microsoft: $2 to $58 Apple: $15 to $28 Cisco: $.50 to $50 Add in hundreds of companies going public, innovation moving faster than ever up to that point, thousands of jobs created. Small businesses (startups) were not killed by higher taxes. And I have no idea why our defense spending needs to be so high.

leif 16y ago
Wasn't there some sort of bubbly thingamajig in tech that ended right about at the end of Clinton? Those numbers sound bubbly. disclaimer, I agree with you, Clinton was great, I'm just not sure the tech market is what to focus on