Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site tilt.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!floyd!harpo!ulysses!allegra!princeton!down!tilt!chenr From: chenr@tilt.UUCP (Raymond Chen ) Newsgroups: net.politics,net.flame Subject: Re: An Answer to Sevener Message-ID: <35@tilt.UUCP> Date: Tue, 3-Apr-84 23:14:10 EST Article-I.D.: tilt.35 Posted: Tue Apr 3 23:14:10 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 5-Apr-84 00:41:51 EST References: <670@pyuxa.UUCP> Organization: Princeton Univ. EECS Lines: 86 Normally, I don't like to flame that much about politics, but some of this is getting a little ridiculous: >>Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site pyuxa.UUCP >>Path: tilt!princeton!allegra!ulysses!gamma!pyuxww!pyuxa!wetcw >>From: wetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (T C Wheeler) >>Newsgroups: net.politics,net.flame >>Subject: An Answer to Sevener >>Message-ID: <670@pyuxa.UUCP> >>Organization: Bell Communications Research, Piscataway N.J. >> >>Well, now Tim S. has gone and done it again. He sounds like a campaign >>spiel straight from Democratic headquarters. This is the same tired >>rhetoric the Democrats have been spouting for years. Confuse the >>electorate and they will fall for anything. Get the monkey off Congress's >>back and blame everyone else. Mr. Sevener made seven accusations which >>I think should be answered. >> >>1. Congress and Congress alone is answerable for the deficit. It >>is Congress that approves the budget. If they wanted to cut the budget, >>they had every opportunity to do so. They did not. They added to the >>budget to make it as large as it is. >> >>2. I'm glad you used the term 'adjusted for inflation' so I can >>also use it. The cost of one mid-sized automobile today, adjusted for >>inflation, would buy a damn nice 4 bedroom house in 1942. The term >>'adjusted for inflation' is hogwash. How about using a realistic >>figure such as percentage of the Federal Budget. WWII took over 60% >>of the Federal Budget. Miltary spending today is less than 26%. >>Using this kind of rhetoric is typical of political hacks who are >>trying to snow the masses. >> >>3. Sure this is the largest Federal Budget ever. Can you name >>one year that the budget was NOT larger than the last one? Apply >>your 'adjusted for inflation' logic here and see what happens. >> >>4. Thanks to Jimmy Carter, yes. >> >>5. Congress made those cuts in social spending. Again, stop >>following the party garbage and read what really happened. >> Ok, first things first: 1) Mr. Wheeler, have you ever heard of the term "balance of power"? Sure, I'll agree that Congress isn't a rubber-stamp, but neither is the Presidency. Remember the budget fight in Reagan's first year in office? That fight wasn't an instance of Congress trying to cram something down the Administration's throat, it was Reagan that was doing the cramming and he did a darn good job at that. If you want to get picky, sure, Congress PASSED the budget, but that was because Ronny was bringing PRESSURE to bear on a lot of key members. 2) First, 'adjusted for inflation' isn't hogwash. There's a reason why 5-cent cigars don't cost 5 cents anymore. There's also a term known as "real dollars". Secondly, during WWII, we were supplying the entire Allied alliance with arms and supplies (and losing a lot of it to U-boats, battles, etc.) on a WARTIME basis. 26% seems a little high to me, seeing as we are supposedly at peace, and the equipment loss rate should be nowhere near as high now, as it was back then. 3-4) I'm not going to address seeing as I didn't read the original article (maybe it's time to start reading net.politics again). 5) See #1. If I remember correctly, Reagan rammed them down the throats of the Congressional Democrats (who were screaming all the way). Don't blame Congress for EVERYTHING that's gone wrong. That's just as unfair (or fair) as blaming the President for everything. It's very rare that a President gets it all his own way, and even rarer for Congress since the President has got this handy thing called a veto. Usually things end up being compromised, and that's the way the writers of the Constitution intended it to be. -- From the Random Fingers of -- Ray Chen {allegra | ihnp4 | mhuxi}!princeton!tilt!chenr "It's amazing what a thousand monkeys and a few typewriters can accomplish..."