Are deficits "taxation without representation?"

[gulliver]

My kids can't vote, but they have to pay taxes in the future to pay for the huge Bush/Republican deficit fiasco. To me that seems like taxation without representation.

[FogerRox]

1. I think you are headed in the right direction

but there is a little more to it than just that.

[gulliver]

4. "there is a little more to it than just that."

Agreed. I just hate deficit spending being the loosy-goosy, backdoor taxation method it really is. Putting something on the "credit card" needs to be as hard (or harder) than paying with "checking" when it comes to spending the people's money. Otherwise, you get a wild-eyed, big spending numbskull like Bush in office, and he has effectively unlimited spending power. Deficit spending as a hidden, evil practice favors the corrupt such as the Reagan and Bush administrations.

Cheney said that "deficits don't matter." That's a heck of an insight. We need to make deficits matter. One way of doing that is possibly to tie the practice to "taxation without representation." More to it, though...I agree.

[boobooday]

2. That is definitely a fair argument.

Taxing the unborn!

[AP]

3. Pay it forward!

Deficit spending can be a good thing (when you're making an investment in the future -- i.e., the New Deal). However, people today should care a little more about the world they're leaving for their children's children.

[gulliver]

5. "making an investment"

I agree. Deficits can be good. If making an investment, though, it should be clear exactly what the prospectus is. Bush's deficits got us nothing...got us less than nothing. Deficits that are used to fund New Deal type stuff get us highway systems and public works. Deficit spending invested in education gets us brain power in an increasingly brain power oriented world. Deficits incurred for tax cuts to the wealthy and wars get the people zero. In the case of the war, far less than zero.

[kentuck]

6. I think you are correct.

I had never heard it defined in such a way but I think it is right on mark.

[annabanana]

7. They sure as hell are. I don't even HAVE grandkids yet, but I

know they'll still be paying buckets of interest on these massive loans...