Longer Step: Ideas for Justice and Sustainability

 This is a fascinating election. The only thing we know for sure is that Oregon's next governor will be a woman: 1. Tina Kotek (Democrat): Speaker of the House. Has lengthy OR govt leadership experience. The frontrunner. Enjoys an electorate which, much to the dismay of the Republican 75% of the state (by area), has elected a Democrat governor for decades now. She would get my vote were I still an Oregon resident. Oregon used to be a great state, or at least looked like one. But now, it's beset (OK, mostly Portland is beset) by rampant homelessness and violence which spiraled out of control on Tina's watch. But she did push through statewide rent control (which I think I disagree with due to its interference with the rights of property owners), but at least it was designed to try to help renters who couldn't pay their rent), and her Republican opponent Drazan organized a Republican walkout from the legislature, which killed Kotek's attempt to increase homeless shelt...

This article in National Affairs is too long and meandering, but I love this line: " Paying off bonds with currency that is worth half as much as it used to be is like defaulting on half of the debt ." I've been thinking (and saying) for a long time that we will see inflation, not deflation, because the only way to repay the federal debt is to do it with ever-more-worthless dollars: Print too much money, cause inflation, and repay the debt with devalued dollars. Our government is stealing our future from us, in order to keep the balls in the air a little longer. But it is a sucker's game, and at some point it will become obvious to everyone that the US dollar is worthless. And all who hold their wealth in dollars at that time will suddenly realize they are financially ruined. A sane economic plan would see: a. Progressive income tax rates that raise enough money to fund the entire government's expenditures for the year; b. A vast (VAST) reduction in federal spend...