Thanksgiving Musings

1st, I tried to copy a Bernie quote that shows he has been reading my blog, but as usual with technology challenges I failed.  I don't usually have much in common with Bernie's thoughts but he does agree with me that a significant portion of the cumulative deficit over the last 10 years was caused by the unfunded war on terror and that it is wrong to pay for it on the backs of entitlements.  Fix the entitlements and raise revenues to pay for the War on Terror.  And it is OK to fix the tax code while raising the revenues.

For that I would be thankful this Thanksgiving.  But it is unlikely to happen any time soon.

Some other things that people would be thankful for but are unlikely to happen any time soon.

Allow undocumented residents a path to citizenship and legality.  Since most of them work and pay taxes, we will prevent GDP from sinking if 10% of the labor force suddenly disappears and that will make everybody thankful.  Economics 10.

Control health care costs by doing sensible things that I have written about before.  Everyone will be thankful except for those benefiting from the inefficiencies.

Bring some moderation back into political discussions.  Both sides have good points when they stick to the middle.  Government has a role but the primary responsibility is with the individual.

And libertarians have a point when they say drugs should be legal.  Taking the  profit out of the production and distribution will bring peace to many Latin American countries and inner cities.  The profits can be used to pay for addiction treatment centers whereas today the tax payer pays for such treatment in jails.  That will help many state budgets.

Have a nice holiday.