tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post8832048474288191494..comments2024-03-14T11:09:32.759-05:00Comments on Falkenblog: The Brain's Permanent Income HypothesisEric Falkensteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07243687157322033496noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-17484210935976346562011-10-12T10:08:32.851-05:002011-10-12T10:08:32.851-05:00Social Security and Medicare combined are about 10...Social Security and Medicare combined are about 10% of GDP. This is fairly transparent redistribution, it's not supposed to be productive or wealth-creating.<br /><br />"Defense" spending is another 5-6%. This is also transparently not productive or wealth-creating.<br /><br />Interest payments are about 2%. Same here.<br /><br />Non-defense discretionary spending is about 5%. "Other" spending is about 3%.Anonymous #5noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-18159154084193924552011-10-11T09:23:14.521-05:002011-10-11T09:23:14.521-05:00"government spending is totally useless"..."government spending is totally useless" is a straw man. How about reducing government from 25 to 15% of GDP? That leaves a lot of room for government spending.Eric Falkensteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07243687157322033496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-11939519739038413082011-10-11T08:13:33.889-05:002011-10-11T08:13:33.889-05:00@dvd-g:
Some people are already thinking about th...@dvd-g:<br /><br />Some people are already thinking about the need to create "jobs" for (*ahem*) certain people that feel useful and productive but are really production-free, wheel-spinning games -<br /> http://takimag.com/article/the_dignity_of_sloth#axzz1aOGUViYGMercurynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-29824044407672418902011-10-11T07:38:41.903-05:002011-10-11T07:38:41.903-05:00I'm not optimistic on the future of the welfar...I'm not optimistic on the future of the welfare state, I think it will only tend to grow globally as capitalism + technology leverages the abilities of the most productive people, so that 1 person can serve millions and thus create a log-scale distribution of wealth, which is incompatible with primitive envious urges!<br /><br />And when nano-tech enables the rich to "buy" hundreds of years of additional lifespan, the poor will revolt and demand that it be rationed somehow other then cash, just as today you HAVE to have open heart surgery on medicare even if it costs many times your life's income. So the more tech advances the more the welfare state will demand!Albert Linghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17095951054791059946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7905515.post-15494719256546378672011-10-11T04:24:44.026-05:002011-10-11T04:24:44.026-05:00I agree with the ideas in your post, and would lik...I agree with the ideas in your post, and would like to raise another possibility.<br /><br />Rephrasing what you said, in order to reduce the pain of unemployment, spending money does not help. Creating fake jobs does not help either. If you can create fake jobs which feel like real jobs - that would work.<br /><br />I propose this has already been going on for 20 years. A substantial proportion of the jobs are fake jobs which make people feel-good. It is exactly this solution which has been squeezed to the end, and the current crisis signals this.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com