SuperG


Drew - you are da Man!

You get it! 

What happens all too often coming from the right, is way too much rhetorical license without credit. In any discussion, whatever premises you adopt for your argument you must allow the other side. This is why, at least these days, it's like shooting fish in a barrel when countering conservative leaning arguments - because you're hanging them with their own petard.

(Shoot me later for bringing it up  - but the glaring lack of details about M.R.'s fiscal policies would be implemented was a tactical decision because it would have hanged him even more than he eventually wound up.)

Just to be clear - a questionable argument from either side should be called out. 

And to be fair regarding that point: I was just having some fun mentioning payroll taxes, but in theory money paid to the trust fund should be gotten back in benefits, which isn't quite the same thing as other taxes. But in theory those also should be benefits not paid for by the general tax base - and it's a big amount, so it isn't fair to count the cost of benefits as a handout either (at least until the trust fund runs out).

The overall point being that people need to keep how they want to account for things consistent when talking about this stuff. When dealing with complex issues it's easy to change the rules mid argument. And though I'm not naive, often times people actually don't even know they are doing it.

You're right - bogosity is bogosity no matter who does it.

Maybe I'm stepping over the, uh, political line in this forum, but it's quite a valid observation (and a generalization), that conservatives the world (not just US ones), have a tendency to compartmentalize information that does not comport with their beliefs. See, conservatism isn't an economic theory, it's more a cling to power. A Russian conservative would be a communist, for example. This isn't to say that there aren't principled conservatives (although most of those have been run off of late). Anyway, this compartmentalization leads a tendency to forget ones own position when decrying anothers. It's not necessarily a conscious thing, but it doesn't make it right either.

SuperG
A Russian conservative would be a communist, for example.

From the book, "History of; The Twilight Zone."  By Ifai Ledmyfinal