Real Program Costs

Some rapid Thoughts on a very thoughtful Post by Cactus at Angry Bear. He is correct in believing there is no value to a Government running at deficit, as there is for a Business; he mentions Tax advantages, though I could possibly supply the value of paying Operating Costs by shipping Capital Costs forward while leaving financial avenue for Profit-aggregating Short-term opportunities. A government cannot achieve this End, as all Government activity must pay the real-time Cost of resource utilization, from a periodic limitation of potential venues. Explain in English, Please! It simply means that Government must forestall Resource use by Taxation, or Government activity will inflate Resource Costs, said resource inflation persistent until such time as those Resources are saved from future Consumption by adequate Taxation of the Private Sector; a function clearly understandable in a fixed-rate Production cycle, even when it has an expanding Production Peak.

Cactus describes the ease of running up Government debt, all of which is true. He might has missed the greatest danger of Debt accumulation, which consists in Sector construction tied to the Government Spending. A good Case in Point can be the existence of the Medicare and Medicaid programs. I would first like to say that I advocate Universal Health Care, but most decidedly not with the current Health Care network construction. Back to Medicare and Medicaid, Specific Services are paid utilizing Payscales set by the Private Sector industry; an industry which insists on an intense Profitability and high Wage scales. We wind up with the situation that Poor people pay wealthy labor at Payscales set to maximize Profit ratios geared to extended Care for wealthy people; it all accomplished by redress to a rich benefactor–Government. The Situation is worsened by industry demands for limitation on Patient levels; Doctors and Clinics limiting their Patient load, and maximizing their Profits by artificial Check-up and Check-back Consultations. There is no doubt Americans would still be paying about 8% of GDP for health care today, as they were in 1965, but for the advent of Medicare and Medicaid, with comparable levels of health insurance premiums.

A secondary Sector construction is the military/industrial complex. We are going to be paying over $1 trillion this year, if Bush has his way, in military appropriations to combat Opponents who do not technically exist; while fighting two wars with Operational equipment and trained Personnel insufficient for the task. What does this tell Us? We have no Opponent to fight a War using the advanced military Hardware We are paying so much for, while at the same time finding Ourselves incapable of fighting in the old-fashioned methods. What I am trying to articulate in the economic sense states that Government-sponsored Sector construction by rich funding will never achieve the Goals desired, develop its own momentum for personal Profitability which lobbying efforts will sustain, and Government Debt will skyrocket. lgl