starve the beast
there's a political strategy called starve the beast. it works like this. cut taxes, revenues plummet, and the government will then be forced to cut spending. the beast is the government. good plan. on paper. the problem is, in reality, spending doesn't get cut. we just borrow more. which tanks the economy. which reduces revenues even more. which causes stimulus spending. which is paid for by borrowing more. and round the drain we go. so how do we stop the vicious cycle? i don't know. i don't think we can. at least not until the beast actually gets hungry. the occupy protests are the first hunger pangs. it will be a while until enough people get hungry enough to muster enough political willpower to throw the yoke of taxation off the crushed middle class and on to people who have money and can afford it. i'm thinking 2028 or so.