Gene Wolfe's Politics

James Wynn · 26 Mar 2009, 20:03 · from 2009-March.txt.gz

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From: crushtv at gmail.com (James Wynn)
Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:03:33 -0500
Subject: (urth) Gene Wolfe's Politics
References: <958496.76164.qm at web180202.mail.gq1.yahoo.com><1523.72.171.0.142.1238077325.squirrel at brunians.org><BLU120-W165E063BB36FDA170696F786910 at phx.gbl><2509.67.142.130.16.1238095509.squirrel at brunians.org>
	<1f7617370903261242r3fbdec07scd2f4b38ee8b5a29 at mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <8193C9B96E634444B8A3B6BB8966E046@eMachinePC>

>> A good practical place to start.
>> You can only make a new tax if you remove two others: you can only raise 
>> a
>> tax if you reduce other taxes by twice the amount.
>
> This is a formula for bankruptcy.

I don't think this resolution is exactly what Horn suggested; however, it is 
only a formula for bankruptcy if one of the following is true:

A.) The leaders of a government cannot curb their inclination to spend more 
and more--or commit themselves to spending more and more--without regard to 
the money coming in (admittedly, a genuine impetus in democratic and 
autocratic governments)

B.) There is some kind of law of good governance that demands governments 
continually spend ever larger percentages of the nation's economy (which I 
don't consider true, and would inevitably lead to bankruptcy).

J.

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