Quote:
|
On the non porn issues though I do agree that unless there are major spending cuts and more fiscal responsibility all the tax cuts and economic stimulus packages in the world will not help over the long term.
|
There is only one way out of this financial crisis. The West has to start producing goods it can sell to the East so the balance of payments are maintained. The idea that we in the West can suck in cheap goods and pay for them on credit will not keep working.
But to kick start the economies you are right but probably too limited. Everyone has to make "major spending cuts and more fiscal responsibility" not just Governments. People need to spend what they earn more than what they can borrow. It's called a "credit crunch" because credit is the problem from the top to the bottom.
As for tax cuts I'm not so sure. If you give 10 million people $10 a week in tax cuts they will rush to the malls to buy another product produced elsewhere. If you give 1 million people $100 a week they might think about a new car, holiday or extension on the home. The first two will send money out of the US.
If you spend $100 million dollars a week building roads, schools or hospitals you improve the lives of more people. It employs people, buys goods from local suppliers and leaves the country with something more solid than a new T Shirt made in China.
Roosevelt got the US out of the Depression with the New Deal. It worked then and it will work now. If the people working it do it right. Who is the better person to make a New Deal for the US, Obama or McCain and does the US and the West have the balls to make it work or would they be happier with a small tax cut so they can buy more goods from China?
And yes with a New Deal some of the money will flow out of the West, it's just that less will flow out. Bush has let too much flow out and unless McCain stops the flow it will never get better.
As for censoring the Internet and porn. It's a sticky problem and yes Governments change their tack, especially in the US. The problem is applying it to other countries and making sure the playing field is level. Maybe talking to Visa would work as well a site losing their ability to process Visa would have an immediate effect. Maybe blocking domains with unacceptable porn outside members areas. Maybe there are other solutions.
But the Internet is something that could be producing Billions if not Trillions for the West. If only people could make it work as a place to do honest business. And not a place where everything is free or supported by advertising.