But overall, our current, mishmash system reflects the divided and often frustrating mix of views and procedures that is the United States. That reality is far more complicated (and boring) than the populist caricature, and it certainly doesn’t lend itself to easy solutions like purging Friedmanesque ideologues from the government. But it’s nevertheless true. And the sooner we acknowledge this reality, the sooner we can grow up and get to work on making it better.
That's the big takeaway for me. Both sides get the popular part of what they want (lower taxes, more popular spending) and nobody does the grown up budgeting part of the process (decreasing spending or increasing taxes).
Is it even that straightforward though? This was a great article but it didn't even touch on monetary policy. Can we even talk about federal budgeting without addressing the fact that the treasury can print money out of thin air? I feel like we might be stuck on this track regardless of who is in power unless we can return to sound money.
Great read! Worth it alone just for all the graphs and data. I've heard lots of complaints from populists on both the left and the right recently about the "libertarians in DC" who are controlling the economy. This article does a great job of highlighting why that's such a laughable concept.
One thing everyone can agree on is that the overall growing complexity is a problem, right? Irrespective of any specific political agenda it's just plain wrong to have so many laws that everyone is a criminal and a tax code that no one person can understand.
These stats are super interesting. Great read.
That's the big takeaway for me. Both sides get the popular part of what they want (lower taxes, more popular spending) and nobody does the grown up budgeting part of the process (decreasing spending or increasing taxes).
Is it even that straightforward though? This was a great article but it didn't even touch on monetary policy. Can we even talk about federal budgeting without addressing the fact that the treasury can print money out of thin air? I feel like we might be stuck on this track regardless of who is in power unless we can return to sound money.
Great read! Worth it alone just for all the graphs and data. I've heard lots of complaints from populists on both the left and the right recently about the "libertarians in DC" who are controlling the economy. This article does a great job of highlighting why that's such a laughable concept.
One thing everyone can agree on is that the overall growing complexity is a problem, right? Irrespective of any specific political agenda it's just plain wrong to have so many laws that everyone is a criminal and a tax code that no one person can understand.