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ORIGINAL: willbeurdaddy
Balanced budgets are, in fact, inappropriate because the cost of some services should be shared by the future generations that also benefit from them. It is a basic tenet of private accounting to charge future generations of shareholders by amortizing costs, and it should be no different in government accounting.

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ORIGINAL: Moonhead

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ORIGINAL: willbeurdaddy

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ORIGINAL: AnimusRex

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ORIGINAL: servantforuse
The dems had control of Congress when Reagan was President.

Yes they did. But Reagan never proposed a balanced budget; he pressed strenuously for massive defense spending, and the deficit spiraled out of control. He owns that deficit, and laying it off on Congress is nonsense.

Again- name one Republican who is talking about balancing the budget. Name one who actually wants to reduce the government's power over our lives.

Don't feel bad- I go around on right wing blogs and ask this same question over and over, and all I get is crickets. because there are none.

The conservative movement has become a cargo cult, miming the appearances and clothing of conservatism, but without the meaning or substance.
I don't criticize them for being conservative, I criticize them for not being serious.

Balanced budgets are, in fact, inappropriate because the cost of some services should be shared by the future generations that also benefit from them. It is a basic tenet of private accounting to charge future generations of shareholders by amortizing costs, and it should be no different in government accounting.

Roads and other infrastrucure, war expenditures and R&D are obvious examples. Healthcare, which benefits only those currently receiving it is an obvious counterexample. Its funny how liberals campaign on the evils of deficits, and then when they are in power they arent so bad. Barney Frank is the poster child for hypocrisy on the issue.

The key to deficit spending is to keep it in line with the ability to repay the loans via economic growth, something that the liberal agenda can only impede.

Quite.
That's why the conservative Clinton left a surplus and the liberal Bush left a deficit that's in the process of bankrupting the country.

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ORIGINAL: AnimusRex

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ORIGINAL: willbeurdaddy
Balanced budgets are, in fact, inappropriate because the cost of some services should be shared by the future generations that also benefit from them. It is a basic tenet of private accounting to charge future generations of shareholders by amortizing costs, and it should be no different in government accounting.

I won't use this space to argue with your premise, but rather to make crystal clear this one point;

Your position is exactly the one held by the Keynesian New Deal Democrats, such as FDR and Truman. It was also the positon held by my Marxist civics professor in college in 1979.
Republicans like Eisenhower and Goldwater and Reagan (circa 1976) vehemently attacked such views.

But this also bolsters my point; that the conservative movement now embraces the very things it spent decades fighting.

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ORIGINAL: servantforuse

The dems had control of Congress when Reagan was President.

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ORIGINAL: AnimusRex

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ORIGINAL: willbeurdaddy
Balanced budgets are, in fact, inappropriate because the cost of some services should be shared by the future generations that also benefit from them. It is a basic tenet of private accounting to charge future generations of shareholders by amortizing costs, and it should be no different in government accounting.

I won't use this space to argue with your premise, but rather to make crystal clear this one point;

Your position is exactly the one held by the Keynesian New Deal Democrats, such as FDR and Truman. It was also the positon held by my Marxist civics professor in college in 1979.
Republicans like Eisenhower and Goldwater and Reagan (circa 1976) vehemently attacked such views.

But this also bolsters my point; that the conservative movement now embraces the very things it spent decades fighting.

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ORIGINAL: willbeurdaddy
Conservatives are not monolithic in their opinions. And Reagan is a perfect example. While he campaigned for and promised balanced budgets, when he took office he never once introduced a balanced budget amendment...he understood the implications.

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ORIGINAL: mnottertail
I Sort of agree but; vehemenent disagreement in that don't forget Nixon taking us off the gold standard saying 'We're ALL Keynesians now.'
Ron  

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ORIGINAL: servantforuse

The dems had control of Congress when Reagan was President.

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ORIGINAL: willbeurdaddy

1. Clinton didnt leave a national debt surplus.

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2. Clinton's never had a budget surplus. The national debt increased every year he was in office, that is the definition of a budget deficit.

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3. Clinton did come close to a surplus, but it was smoke and mirrors. When you cut spending in areas where it needs to be spent all you are doing is deferring costs that should be charged currently. His 35% cut in the military had to spent many times over to rebuild the military infrastructure. Also revenues were inflated from the fictitious economic bubble called dot.com, and its collapse resulted in recession...ie it cost the next administration $ to recover. If those two factors alone are properly accounted for (in the accounting sense, not "taken into account", Clinton wasnt even close to a budget surplus.

– The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the stimulus) was passed with support from Republican Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME).

– Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA) voted for the health reform bill passed by the House.

– The Waxman Markey cap and trade clean energy bill was passed with support from GOP Reps. Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), Mike Castle (R-DE), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Leonard Lance (R-NJ), Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), Dave Reichert (R-WA), and Chris Smith (R-NJ).

– In 2007, the House passed the Employee Free Choice Act with support from Republican Reps. Tim Murphy (R-PA), Don Young (R-AK), Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), Chris Smith (R-NJ), Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), Peter King (R-NY), and Steve LaTourette (R-OH).

– The McCain-Kennedy 2006 immigration bill would have “legalized millions of undocumented immigrants already in the U.S. if they paid fines, paid back taxes and learned English.” Republican Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Dick Lugar (R-IN), George Voinovich (R-OH), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Bob Bennett (R-UT), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Susan Collins (R-ME), Judd Gregg (R-NH) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) voted for the bill.

– In 2007, both Republican Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) cosponsored resolutions opposing a troop surge in Iraq. In the House, Reps. Bob Inglis (R-SC), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Dean Heller (R-NV), Walter Jones (R-NC), Tim Johnson (R-IL), Mike Castle (R-DE), Howard Coble (R-NC), Ron Paul (R-TX), Tom Petri (R-WI), Fred Upton (R-MI), and Steve LaTourette (R-OH) supported a resolution opposing the Iraq surge. In addition, Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Ron Paul (R-TX), Walter Jones (R-NC), Ed Whitfield (R-KY), Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD), John Duncan (R-TN), and Tim Johnson (R-IL) have signed onto a letter opposing a troop surge in Afghanistan.

– Senators Bob Corker (R-TN) and Dick Lugar (R-IN) both voted to remove North Korea from the state-sponsors of terror list. Sen. Lugar also voted against a 2007 resolution urging action against Iran. In the House, Reps. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Ron Paul (R-TX), and Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) voted against further sanctions against Iran in 2007.

– Earlier this year, Sen. John Thune’s (R-SD) “concealed carry” gun amendment failed to receive the 60 votes it needed to pass. Republican Senators Dick Lugar (R-IN) and George Voinovich (R-OH) opposed the measure.

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ORIGINAL: Mercnbeth
If 'cap & trade' can somehow include a reciprocity from every country in the world along with reciprocal application in import tariffs I could make a case for supporting it. It's only the current 'more equal' status provided that makes it impossible to support sacrificing US jobs while allowing at the same time the exact prohibited practices to be allowed outside the US.

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ORIGINAL: InvisibleBlack

(8) We support retention of the Defense of Marriage Act;

(9) We support protecting the lives of vulnerable persons by opposing health care rationing and denial of health care and government funding of abortion;

(10) We support the right to keep and bear arms by opposing government restrictions on gun ownership;


Comments? Critiques?

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Whats the point of this resolution?

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ORIGINAL: Hierodule

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ORIGINAL: InvisibleBlack

(8) We support retention of the Defense of Marriage Act;

(9) We support protecting the lives of vulnerable persons by opposing health care rationing and denial of health care and government funding of abortion;

(10) We support the right to keep and bear arms by opposing government restrictions on gun ownership;


Comments? Critiques?

7 out of 10? So I could oppose these three and still get funding for my campaign ?

Whats the point of this resolution?

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ORIGINAL: SpinnerofTales

I have to ask, just what will happen to those republicans who sign the pledge and don't live up to it. Is it likely that a candidate will say "I will lie in my speeches about cutting government and lowering taxes but I won't lie if I sign a mimeoed sheet?"

I would say this about a pledge signed by democratic or republican politicians: Print it on toilet paper. It might do some good then.

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ORIGINAL: rulemylife

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ORIGINAL: willbeurdaddy

1. Clinton didnt leave a national debt surplus.

That's not what was said, it was a budget surplus.

What was said was: "That's why the conservative Clinton left a surplus and the liberal Bush left a deficit that's in the process of bankrupting the country."

That can only be interpreted as a national debt surplus. DUCY? I doubt it.

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2. Clinton's never had a budget surplus. The national debt increased every year he was in office, that is the definition of a budget deficit.

There were budget surpluses in 1999 and 2000 with a corresponding reduction in the national debt.

Historical Budget Data

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3. Clinton did come close to a surplus, but it was smoke and mirrors. When you cut spending in areas where it needs to be spent all you are doing is deferring costs that should be charged currently. His 35% cut in the military had to spent many times over to rebuild the military infrastructure. Also revenues were inflated from the fictitious economic bubble called dot.com, and its collapse resulted in recession...ie it cost the next administration $ to recover. If those two factors alone are properly accounted for (in the accounting sense, not "taken into account", Clinton wasnt even close to a budget surplus.

Spin it anyway you like, but the Congressional Budget Office statistics are not smoke and mirrors.

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ORIGINAL: willbeurdaddy

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ORIGINAL: SpinnerofTales

I have to ask, just what will happen to those republicans who sign the pledge and don't live up to it. Is it likely that a candidate will say "I will lie in my speeches about cutting government and lowering taxes but I won't lie if I sign a mimeoed sheet?"

I would say this about a pledge signed by democratic or republican politicians: Print it on toilet paper. It might do some good then.

Those who signed a no tax increase pledge in CA and then voted to increase taxes will have a very diffiuclt time being reelected, and there is a recall campaign against one of them. There may be some hanky panky on the recall petition signatures. A very reputable and experienced signature gathering company, that claims to follow up every signature with a phone call and has never had a petition voided in 15+ years, had something like a 65% verification rate (and therefore sufficient valid signatures). The state came up with half that (based on "random sampling" and deemed the petition invalid.