Re: Question - US National Debt

[Jurriaan Bendien <bendien@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks Max. I guess I asked a stupid question, but your answer is good !
What it proves to me, at the very least, is that the disregard many
Americans show for politics (leading to electoral shambles at the most basic
level) can be very costly for them. But the question we then have to ask,
given the ease with which costs are displaced these days to someone weaker
than yourself, is "who is going to pay for all this ?". And I think here the
notion of imperialism and class conflict is relevant, and the objective
assessments of weakness and strength.

I remember talking to a staff member in an information management course I
enrolled for, and I ask a question, but I was a bit cagey about doing it,
and I said "well may it is a stupid question". But the information
management guy said, generously, "well, there are no stupid questions", he
denied that there were. I wish often there were more like you and him, with
a generous attitude, but on the other hand, I guess whether a question is
stupid depends also on the context within which it is advanced. To be
honest, I lost a lot of my confidence in that area, personally, because
people told me too often I was stupid or treated me as such. You can receive
too much criticism in a given interval of time, or be too intransigent. It
suggests to me I have to have better regard for how I contextualise my
questions, but also not be afraid or reserved to ask if I strongly feel it
is important to me. Maybe, it's a bit sheepish and silly to say all this
too, but then, even if I am supposed to be a Gollum or a Golem, I'm still a
human being who's gotta cope with himself...

J.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Max B. Sawicky" <sawicky@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <PEN-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, July 20, 2003 7:44 PM
Subject: Re: [PEN-L] Question - US National Debt


> With the tax system of January 2001, the debt would
> have been paid off in about a decade, with nobody
> working a day 'for nothing.'
>
> The OECD would have comparative data on national debt.
>
> mbs