Thursday, December 6, 2007

Ask Me Anything

Dear TQA,

I find myself getting swept up in the Ron Paul frenzy. I'm a social liberal, but not knowing much about economics, I find myself asking Why not no income tax? Small gov't? Gold standard? etc. Since there's no use asking myself, I figured I'd ask you.

thanks,

Mama Toe


Dear Mama,

Frenzies are dangerous, of course. We all remember, for example, the witch in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. He who successfully ties a carrot to the nose of a woman may lead the mob.

Rep. Paul has tied a carrot to the nose of several issues. For instance, he's a libertarian and obstetrician who believes Roe v. Wade should be overturned. Keep your laws off everything except my MD colleagues and women's uteruses? Uh, yeah.

As for eliminating the income tax, TQA has no problem with that. But where do you cover those losses? Rep. Paul suggests tariffs...so all those cheap goods we take for granted will be very expensive.

A national sales tax would probably also be necessary, so where does that leave us?
Probably that the rich will make out like bandits, while the rest of us will find we can't afford many of the things we used to take for granted. Even with more money in our pockets.

Small government? TQA has heard that before. Ever hear of a fella named George W. Bush? Ask him how that shrinking-the-government thing is going. Nice idea, impossible to implement.

Then there's that gold standard. Another nice idea, if it's, say, 1911. You want no money that isn't backed by gold you'll never be allowed to own? (That's how it went before.)

Money that's floated by the Federal Reserve is actually way easier to get than money that means something. They don't call financial institutions "trusts" for nothing. When you can't mint money easily, it's hard to have money.

Don't believe me? Look at magazine ads from the 1960s or earlier. Look at the prices of consumer goods. Not the 45-cent cigarettes. I mean, the $200 slide projectors with 2-year payoff plans. Goods cost A FORTUNE before easy money. Because nobody had any.

In short, Ron Paul is one of those fringe candidates who is great for getting others to truth-tell when they're bullshitting the bejeezis out of you, but if he were ever elected president, you'd be better off moving to Saipan and getting one of those sweatshop jobs patriotic Americans like DeLay and Abramoff worked so hard to protect.

Next?

TQA