tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375225817278453406.post8670525143080513845..comments2010-02-15T14:42:49.270-05:00JDnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375225817278453406.post-71277203825834026422010-02-15T14:42:49.270-05:002010-02-15T14:42:49.270-05:00Illuminating essay. I&#39;m a big Dave Ramsey fan and think that his values are the perfect antidote to the greed that got us to this place. As you mention, both parties have been culpable. The reliance on debt to spend money we don&#39;t have has become commonplace for government, households, and businesses. If either party took a firm stance against continuing to rely on debt, they could tap into the populist/tea party sentiment and really throw a charge into our politics. The Republicans, as the opposition at the moment, have a better opening to do so if, as you said, they supported tighter regulations on Wall Street ALONG WITH restrictions on government debt spending. This, of course, would mean cooperating with the Dems on a bill, so I&#39;m not hopeful that they&#39;ll take advantage of this opportunity ... to the detriment of all of us.Greghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08298907336678907432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375225817278453406.post-16106360799361052832009-05-22T20:28:42.579-04:002009-05-22T20:28:42.579-04:00That's a really good essay, and I generally agree with it, except that I'd go further and nationalize the Federal Reserve System. <br /><br />But the problem is that the Republican Party today has no credibility whatsoever in trying to pretend to be the party of fiscal responsibility, which Reagan was able to get away with claiming in 1980. You criticize Clinton, not unjustly, but it was under his watch and also partly due to Bush I breaking his promise of "no new taxes" that the Reagan debts were put under control. The great majority of Republicans went along with Bush II's inexcusable profligacy and fiscal incompetence enthusiastically (while also rubber-stamping him on aggression against Iraq, torture, and indiscriminate domestic spying). The only way the Republicans could gain any credibility on this issue is if they actually won a Presidential election, their candidate exercised genuine fiscal responsibility, and s/he was reelected, instead of crucified for raising taxes. Right now, all of these things seem so far-fetched that a combination of all of them seems like a weird fairy tale. The Republicans' problems are much deeper than mere policy statements or proposals made while out of power, though we are in agreement that deep reflection and new thinking are certainly the place to start.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15544297517349592034noreply@blogger.com