Saturday, March 26, 2011

All David Stockman All the Time

Ronald Reagan's former budget director, David Stockman, has been on a tear lately. Not burdened by partisan politics or crazy-eyed ideology, he tells it like he sees it, which makes for refreshingly honest commentary.

As such, the interview below with Reason TV is must-see TV.


Some of his main points:
1. We live in a Welfare-Warfare State, a state of affairs that is not sustainable
2. We need to Bush's reverse tax cuts for all Americans
3. We need to means-test entitlement programs
4. TARP was a bad idea - Hank Paulson was the most incompetent treasury secretary ever!
5. Bailouts don't work and they don't make sense
6. He believes in "narrow" banking - not every bank should be insured by the FDIC
7. The end of Bretton Woods and the Gold Standard unleashed a wave of speculation and volatility
8. We don't need to spend so much on defense. The Soviet Union was a house of cards, so Star Wars and the huge military buildup was not necessary
9.  Wars should be funded on a pay-as-you-go basis (i.e. raise taxes). The last honest war president was Truman.
10. Social Security and Medicare are an inter-generational Ponzi scheme.

The Triumph of Politics Over Economics

The End of Sound Money and the Triumph of Crony Capitalism
http://mises.org/daily/5113/The-End-of-Sound-Money-and-the-Triumph-of-Crony-Capitalism

Crony Capitalism Strikes Again
http://www.minyanville.com/businessmarkets/articles/federal-reserve-fed-central-banking-wall/3/23/2011/id/33504?page=full

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