[Rhodes22-list] To DAVE about Virginia and in reply

[DCLewis1 at aol.com]

Brad,
 
Thank you for correcting me regarding the Freedom To Farm act, Wild Willie  
was Pres when the legislation was enacted.  I apologize for my  error.  In 
researching who was in charge I ran across the blurb below that  may be of 
interest.  You’ll note Republican principles, or lack thereof,  are cited - but what 
did you expect?
 
“Freedom to Farm Washington
by James Bovard, January 1999 
 
Nothing better symbolizes the collapse of Republican principles than the  
multiple farm bailouts that Congress enacted late last year. Agricultural  
subsidies are skyrocketing, and the 1996 "Freedom to Farm Act" - ritually  invoked 
as a triumph of the Republican Revolution - is as much in ruins as a  Sudanese 
pharmaceutical factory. “
 
see:  _http://www.fff.org/freedom/0199d.asp_ 
(http://www.fff.org/freedom/0199d.asp)    for the full article.
 
Regarding no non-guilty parties, I agree both political parties are guilty  
as you have pointed out.  What is different is that the Republicans play a  
charade where they are the righteous responsible wardens of the taxpayer’s hard  
earned $ - when in fact they are actually quantitatively much worse than the  
Democrats, and in addition they have the egregious chutzpah to lie to the  
electorate with at straight face and claim that unlike they Democrats they  are 
responsible wardens of the taxpayers $.  The performance of the  Republican 
party, beginning with Reagan, is in the numbers, and the numbers say  they are 
world class borrowers without historic equal, they have never  remotely had a 
balanced budget - they don't even try, and (for Philips benefit)  they are big 
government - they don't even try restraint.
 
Regarding adjustments for inflation in the numbers I cited:  I’ve  explored  
doing that but the numbers I’ve used in the basic study go back  to 1900 and I 
know of no consistent inflation indices over that time  span. Consistent 
inflation data, or indices, back to 1900 may exist and I  would be grateful for 
that information if you know of it. Clearly, the  effect of inflation over 100 
years is huge. In the interim I think it is  sufficient to note that the 
average level of indebtedness in Carters Presidency  was $69.2B/yr, the average 
level of indebtedness in Reagan’s presidency was  $217B/yr, that’s roughly a x3 
(i.e. 300%) increase in average debt between  contiguous presidents - that’s a 
huge increase, far beyond any realized level of  inflation. 
 
Regarding my statement “I don’t doubt FDR had such a program” and your  
statement that there is no need to doubt: I think we’re in agreement -  hey, it 
could happen.
 
Dave