Just between you, me, and the old, the late middle-aged and the early middle-aged - isn't it terrific to be able to stick it to the young? I mean, imagine how bad all this economic-type stuff would be if our kids and grandkids hadn't offered to pick up the tab.
Well, OK, they didn't exactly "offer" but they did stand around behind Barack Obama at all those campaign rallies helping him look dynamic and telegenic and earnestly chanting hopey-hopey-changey-changey. And "Yes, we can!" Which is a pretty open-ended commitment.
Are you sure you young folks will be able to pay off this massive Mount Spendmore of multi-trillion-dollar debts we've piled up on you?"Yes, we can!"
We thought you would say that! Allah bless the youth of America! We of the Greatest Generation, the boomers and Generation X salute you, the plucky members of the Brokest Generation, the Gloomers and Generation Y, as in "Why the hell did you old coots do this to us?"
Because, as politicians like to say, it's about "the future of all our children." And the future of all our children is that they'll be paying off the past of all their grandparents. At 12 percent of gross domestic product, this year's deficit is the highest since World War II, and prioritizes not economic vitality but massive expansion of government. But hey, it's not our problem. As John Maynard Keynes observed, "In the long run we're all dead."
Well, most of us will be. But not you youngsters, not for a while. So we've figured it out: You're the ultimate credit market, and the rest of us are all pre-approved!
The Bailout and the Tarp and the Stimulus and the Multi-Trillion Budget and Tarp 2 and Stimulus 2 and Tarp and Stimulus Meet Frankenstein and The Wolf Man are like the old Saturday-morning cliffhanger serials your grandpa used to enjoy. But now he doesn't have to grab his walker and totter down to the Rialto, because he can just switch on the news and every week there's his plucky little hero Big Government facing the same old crisis: Why, there's yet another exciting spending bill with 12 zeroes on the end, but unfortunately there seems to be some question about whether they have the votes to pass it. Oh, no!
And then, just as the fate of another gazillion dollars of pork and waste hangs in the balance, Arlen Specter or one of those lady senators from Maine dashes to the cliff edge and gives a helping hand, and phew, this week's spendapalooza sails through. But don't worry, there'll be another exciting episode of Trillion-Buck Rogers of the 21st Century next week!
This is the biggest generational transfer of wealth in the history of the world. If you're an 18-year-old middle-class hopeychanger, look at the way your parents and grandparents live: It's not going to be like that for you. You're going to have a smaller house and a smaller car - if not a basement flat and a bus ticket. You didn't get us into this catastrophe. But you're going to be stuck with the tab, just like the Germans got stuck with paying reparations for the catastrophe of World War I.
True, the Germans were actually in the war, whereas in the current crisis you guys were just goofing around at school, dozing through Diversity Studies and hoping to ace Anger Management class. But tough. That's the way it goes.
I had the pleasure of talking to the students of Hillsdale College last week, and endeavored to explain what it is they're being lined up for in a 21st century America of more government, more regulation, less opportunity and less prosperity: When you come to take your seat at the American table (to use another phrase politicians are fond of), you'll find the geezers, boomers and X-ers have all gone to the men's room, and you're the only one sitting there when the waiter presents the check. That's you: Generation Checks.
The Teleprompter Kid says not to worry: His budget numbers are based on projections that the economy will decline 1.2 percent this year and then grow 4 percent every year thereafter. Do you believe that? In fact, does he believe that? This is the guy who keeps telling us this is the worst economic crisis in 70 years, and it turns out it's just a 1 percent decline for a couple more months and then party time resumes?
And, come to that, wasn't there a (notably unprojected) 6.2 percent drop in GDP just in the last quarter of 2008?
Whatever. Growth may be lower than projected, but who's to say all those new programs, agencies, entitlements and other boondoggles won't also turn out to cost less than anticipated? Might as well be optimistic, right?
Youth is wasted on the young, said Bernard Shaw. So the geezers appropriated it. We love the youthful sense of living in the moment, without a care, without the burdens of responsibility - free to go wild and crazy and splash out for Tony Danza in dinner theater in Florida where we bought the condo we couldn't afford.
But we also love the idealism of youth: We want to help the sick and heal the planet by voting for massive unsustainable government programs.
Like the young, we're still finding ourselves, but when we find ourselves stuck with a medical bill or a foreclosure notice it's great to be able to call home and say, "Whoops, I got into a bit of a hole this month. Do you think you could advance me a couple of trillion just to tide me over?" And if there's no one at home but a couple of second-graders, who cares? In supporting the political class in its present behavior, America has gone to the bank and given its kids a massive breach-of-trust fund.
I mentioned a few weeks ago the calamitous reality of the U.S. auto industry. General Motors has 96,000 employees but provides health benefits to more than a million people. They can never sell enough cars to make that math add up. In fact, selling cars doesn't help, as they lose money on each model.
GM is a welfare project masquerading as economic activity. And, after the Obama transformation, America will be, too.
The young need to recognize that this is their fight. They need to stop chanting along with the hopeychangey dirges and do something more effective, like form the anti-AARP: The association of Americans who'll never be able to retire.
Unless or until the taxpayers of this republic get fed up enough to hold a referendum demanding a Constitutional amendment mandating a balanced budget, zero deficit spending, and an end to the pol's golden parachute this crap will never end until our nation slides into the toilet of history. [:@]
__________________
Kevin Haendiges
NAHC Life Member
NRA Member
Wildlife Forever Member
GOA Member
Buckmasters Member
http://hunting-indiana.com
What do you think Kaboob, you don't mind all these spending programs? It will be you and I paying for them all....assuming you will actually work for a living.
__________________
I love Christmas lights. They remind me of the people who voted for Obama. They all hang together; half of them don't work, and the ones that do, aren't that bright.
For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do
not understand, no explanation is possible.
A golf course is a willful and deliberate misuse of a perfectly good rifle range.
What do you think Kaboob, you don't mind all these spending programs? It will be you and I paying for them all....assuming you will actually work for a living.
No instead I think all sit here on the computer all day bitching about the Gov. and then I'll pray to God a little...... But we all know this is a part of his devine plan
Yes Jeep, I'll be attending ASU this fall...... planning on working as soon as i graduate. I do hope though Jeep, to see you running our country.... as our president.... lets see what you're capable of.
What do you think Kaboob, you don't mind all these spending programs? It will be you and I paying for them all....assuming you will actually work for a living.
No instead I think all sit here on the computer all day bitching about the Gov. and then I'll pray to God a little...... But we all know this is a part of his devine plan
Yes Jeep, I'll be attending ASU this fall...... planning on working as soon as i graduate. I do hope though Jeep, to see you running our country.... as our president.... lets see what you're capable of.
Whats your major?
I would never want to run this country...maybe Brazil though, have you saw the beaches and women down there???
__________________
I love Christmas lights. They remind me of the people who voted for Obama. They all hang together; half of them don't work, and the ones that do, aren't that bright.
For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do
not understand, no explanation is possible.
A golf course is a willful and deliberate misuse of a perfectly good rifle range.
What do you think Kaboob, you don't mind all these spending programs? It will be you and I paying for them all....assuming you will actually work for a living.
No instead I think all sit here on the computer all day bitching about the Gov. and then I'll pray to God a little...... But we all know this is a part of his devine plan
Yes Jeep, I'll be attending ASU this fall...... planning on working as soon as i graduate. I do hope though Jeep, to see you running our country.... as our president.... lets see what you're capable of.
Whats your major?
I would never want to run this country...maybe Brazil though, have you saw the beaches and women down there???
I'll be paring Political Science up with either an MBA or some type of Law program.
What do you think Kaboob, you don't mind all these spending programs? It will be you and I paying for them all....assuming you will actually work for a living.
No instead I think all sit here on the computer all day bitching about the Gov. and then I'll pray to God a little...... But we all know this is a part of his devine plan
Yes Jeep, I'll be attending ASU this fall...... planning on working as soon as i graduate. I do hope though Jeep, to see you running our country.... as our president.... lets see what you're capable of.
Whats your major?
I would never want to run this country...maybe Brazil though, have you saw the beaches and women down there???
I'll be paring Political Science up with either an MBA or some type of Law program.
And yes, Brazil is a beautiful place....
Your in for a rude awakening in your poli sci classes...
__________________
I love Christmas lights. They remind me of the people who voted for Obama. They all hang together; half of them don't work, and the ones that do, aren't that bright.
For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do
not understand, no explanation is possible.
A golf course is a willful and deliberate misuse of a perfectly good rifle range.
What do you think Kaboob, you don't mind all these spending programs? It will be you and I paying for them all....assuming you will actually work for a living.
No instead I think all sit here on the computer all day bitching about the Gov. and then I'll pray to God a little...... But we all know this is a part of his devine plan
Yes Jeep, I'll be attending ASU this fall...... planning on working as soon as i graduate. I do hope though Jeep, to see you running our country.... as our president.... lets see what you're capable of.
Whats your major?
I would never want to run this country...maybe Brazil though, have you saw the beaches and women down there???
I'll be paring Political Science up with either an MBA or some type of Law program.
And yes, Brazil is a beautiful place....
Your in for a rude awakening in your poli sci classes...
Livin' large and giving the bill to our kids
[8D]
