M2RB: The Killers, live at the Opera House in Toronto
Racey days
Help me through the hopeless haze
But, my oh my
Tragic eyes
I can't even recognise myself behind
Help me through the hopeless haze
But, my oh my
Tragic eyes
I can't even recognise myself behind
And, if the answer is no,
Can I change your mind?
By Veronique de Rugy
There is nothing wrong with changing
your mind after realizing you were wrong. I have changed my mind on several
things myself, such as the “starve the beast” theory. (As it turns out, the
lack of revenue from lower taxes doesn’t stop government officials from
spending more, and as we saw in the past, more revenue from economic growth
just supplies more reason for Congress to spend even more money than they did
before. Don’t get me wrong; I still want lower taxes, but I don’t believe that
lower taxes alone will shrink the size of government. We need spending cuts for
that.)
As it turns out, Paul Krugman has
changed his mind a few times too. For instance, via Tyler Cowen’s Marginal Revolution, I learn that there was a
time when Paul Krugman was very alarmist about the level of unfunded
liabilities and the illusion of fiscal health of this country. That’s Krugman in 1996:
Generous benefits for the elderly are feasible as long as
there are relatively few retirees compared with the number of taxpaying workers
— which is the current situation, because the baby boomers swell the workforce.
In 2010, however, the boomers will begin to retire. Every
year thereafter, for the next quarter-century, several million 65-year-olds
will leave the rolls of taxpayers and begin claiming their benefits.
The budgetary effects of this demographic tidal wave are
straightforward to compute, but so huge as almost to defy comprehension. Mr.
Peterson, the chairman of the Blackstone Group, a private investment bank,
informs us that ”the combined Federal cost of Social Security and Medicare,
expressed as a share of workers’ taxable payroll, is officially projected to
rise from the already burdensome 17 percent in 1995 to between 35 and 55
percent in 2040. And this figure does not include the many other costs — from
nursing homes to civil service and military pensions — that are destined to
grow along with the age wave.”
But aren’t Social Security and Medicare basically pension
funds, in which workers’ contributions are invested to provide for their
retirement? Hardly. A private pension fund that planned to pay the benefits
these programs promise would be accumulating huge reserves. In fact, the
so-called ”trust funds” are making barely any provisions for the future. In
another spectacular statistic, Mr. Peterson notes that if Medicare and Social
Security had to obey the same rules that apply to private pensions, the
reported Federal deficit this year would be not its official $150 billion, but
roughly $1.5 trillion.
In short, the Federal Government, however solid its finances
may currently appear, is in fact living utterly beyond its means. While the
present generation of retirees is doing very nicely, the promises that are
being made to those now working cannot be honored.
He even agreed that slowing
the growth in benefits and raising the retirement age were sensible policy
options:
Both Mr. Morris and Mr. Peterson offer plans to avert the
crisis ahead. The details differ, and Mr. Peterson’s proposal is more
completely fleshed out, but the general thrust is clear: slow the growth in
benefit levels, gradually raise the retirement age, impose limits on expensive
terminal medical care that prolongs life for only weeks or days and — last but
not least — raise taxes moderately now, rather than massively later. We need
not dwell on their sensible proposals, however, because there is not the slightest
prospect that they will be put into effect — or indeed that we will do anything
serious about the looming crisis until it is almost upon us.
Apparently, Krugman also changed his
position on the impact of devaluation on the economy,
according Tyler Cowen.
Change Your Mind - The Killers
Racey days
Help me through the hopeless haze
But, my oh my
Tragic eyes
I can't even recognise myself behind
Help me through the hopeless haze
But, my oh my
Tragic eyes
I can't even recognise myself behind
And, if the answer is no,
Can I change your mind?
Out again, a siren screams at half past ten
And, you won't let go
While I ignore, that we both felt like this
Before it starts to show
So, if I had a chance
Would you let me know?
Why aren't you shaking?
Step back in time
Graciously taken
Oh, you're too kind
And, if the answer is no,
Can I change your mind?
We're all the same
And, love is blind
The sun is gone
Before it shines
And, if the answer is no,
Can I change your mind?
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