"...spending is a moral issue. You're taking money from people and wasting it...

[WhiskeyGirl]

Q: Given that, how dangerous is our profligate spending to creating the inflation that could create chaos?

Steve Forbes: Well, the spending is not just a monetary issue, spending is a moral issue. You're taking money from people and wasting it. People are forced to give money to the government, presumably in return for services. As we said in our Declaration of Independence, to secure certain rights, period, not all the other stuff they've gotten into. And then Liberals will say, "Well, you mean you want to take away Social Security?" No, we want a system where people own the assets so they truly have something of true value there. They're not burdening other generations. They've earned it, they've built it, the assets are there. They can have a far better, richer retirement than they can when the politicians control it. This is the way you fight these things, by emphasizing we come out ahead. We do better when it's in the hands of we, the people and not politicians who have no sense of restraint or discipline.

http://www.dailyreckoning.com.au/an-interview-with-steve-forbes/2009/02/20/

The people who will pay the money back in the future get nothing.  They are in bondage to debt and may not be able to free themselves.

Meanwhile, the free traders continues to spend our future away - squander and waste the future that does not belong to them. 

Anything politicians control seems to be squandered and wasted.  It's just another slush fund to future generations looking for that gold mine.

jmho

[WhiskeyGirl]

Q: What's the worst conventional wisdom in Washington today?

Steve Forbes: What's the worst conventional wisdom in Washington today? Oh, where does one begin? It's the idea that these folks are there to help you.

Q: Thank you. We're not getting into the numbers of them, but the idea of a flat tax that you're talking about, is that something that would help us pay off this nine trillion dollars that's sitting there so that we wouldn't be spending all that money on debt service and we could actually rebuild the infrastructure? Is the flat tax a good tool towards that?

Steve Forbes: The flat tax wins on all fronts. It's a great blow against political corruption, great blow against the current system of a tax code that brings out the worst in us, always thinking, "Do I get a deduction here, do I get a deduction there?" Instead, we do things for the right reasons instead of the wrong reasons. And finally, and very importantly, it means more economic growth. It means higher asset values. Ask yourself, why did housing prices go up starting in 1998? It's because there was a change in the tax code that in effect, I won't bore you with numbers, that removed the capital gains tax on your first- on your primary residence if you sold it. Suddenly, for most people, it did not have a capital gains tax. When you remove a tax on something, the value of it goes up; very, very basic. So by lowering tax rates, by making it simple so that people can actually understand what's happening to them, we have a better civil life, we have a better political life, and we have a s tronger economy, higher assets, more businesses being created, better jobs being created. Boy, if we can't- with that kind of a situation, if we can't deal with the mess that's been created in the past, then I don't know what will.

How about...do I pay the tax or not pay the tax?  I can still be part of the new administration if I don't.  When will politicians start setting a good example?  When will they build the financial firewalls we need to maintain a prosperous nation?