Letxa.com Articles http://www.letxa.com/articles This RSS feed includes leading text to the articles posted to www.letxa.com (http://www.letxa.com). en-us Wed, 08 Oct 2008 19:00:00 EDT The True Federal Deficit Letxa Sun, 07 Dec 2008 23:00:00 -0600 http://www.letxa.com/articles/32 article challenging the myth of the Clinton surplus, skeptics have been searching out ways to refute it. Some suggest I don't understand the difference between the debt and the deficit. Others claim that I'm ignoring the CBO numbers (even though I explained that in the original article).

I then wrote a follow-up article that explained the exact accounting that allowed a real deficit to be claimed as a surplus by Clinton. That article really was the final nail in the coffin of the Myth of the Clinton Surplus. It demonstrated that even if we omit Social Security from the calculations, the remaining "surplus" only existed due to surpluses in other trust funds.

Yet the critics of the articles do have a point in that we have to use the same definition of "surplus" for all presidents. I never suggested otherwise in the article. I simply debunked the common myth that Clinton ever had a surplus and that Bush turned it into a deficit. Except to Washington insiders, they all have had deficits. The only reason I singled out Clinton in the original article is because he's the only one that has claimed a surplus based on Washington's twisted accounting, and only his avid supporters faithfully cling to that urban legend.

But it's worthwhile to look at the real deficits that each recent president has had.  Continue reading the article...]]> The Crisis is Confidence, Not Unemployment Letxa Wed, 26 Nov 2008 08:00:00 -0600 http://www.letxa.com/articles/31 . But is more borrowing and spending really the solution?

There seems to be a growing understanding that Obama will not raise taxes on the rich as he promised in the campaign. At least not for now. If we assume that Obama isn't going to raise taxes then it must be assumed that any massive new spending project (in addition to the massive bailout already underway) must be paid for with government borrowing.

But, I wonder, is the solution to our current crisis really having the government borrow money and spend it? If so, how is that different than what President Bush has been doing for the better part of the last eight years?   Continue reading the article...]]> The Myth of the Clinton Surplus, Part II Letxa Sun, 23 Nov 2008 21:30:00 -0600 http://www.letxa.com/articles/30 surplus, people have been skeptical. After all, Clinton's alleged surpluses have been accepted by the media and repeated so much that it's taken as gospel truth.

The claim is made that in Fiscal Year 2000, President Clinton ran a budget surplus of $236 billion. My previous article demonstrates that far from a surplus, the government had to increase the national debt by $18 billion. How can you claim a surplus when you have to borrow more money?

Indeed, citizens that hear about the Clinton "surplus" but also know the national debt never went down may legitimately ask, "How can the national debt increase even when the government supposedly has a surplus?" This article will provide a detailed explanation of how Clinton claimed a surplus even when the government borrowed $18 billion more the same year.  Continue reading the article...]]> The Case For Big Government? Letxa Sun, 16 Nov 2008 18:00:00 -0600 http://www.letxa.com/articles/29 The Case For Big Government" by Jeff Madrick caught my eye. It wasn't really what I was looking for but I've always been curious to understand liberals' rationale for big government. Explanations I've been offered by liberals usually come down to emotional or ideological beliefs that I've never seen really backed up by hard data. So with a title like that I figured this might be a very interesting book that would truly make the case for big government: And by "make the case" I mean offer some concrete, real-world information of why big government is good policy. I thought the book would either make the case for big government and convince me or, at the very least, show me the information they think vindicates their position.  Continue reading the article...]]> I'm Standing Up for Conservatism Letxa Fri, 07 Nov 2008 21:30:00 -0600 http://www.letxa.com/articles/28 must stand up for what they believe in every way we can, every opportunity we get. Visibly, in public.

Obama's success in winning the presidential election--along with the Democrats having won more seats in both the House and the Senate--are being misrepresented as a tectonic shift to the left in the American electorate. The truth is, however, Obama's 52.6% of the popular vote is only 4.3% more than Kerry achieved in 2004; likewise, McCain's 46.2% is 4.5% less than Bush won that same year. That means that in 2008 we witnessed a shift of about 4.4% of the population. In other words, if you have 25 Americans in a room, one of them decided to change sides between the elections of 2004 and 2008.

That's not a particularly large movement in the electorate.   Continue reading the article...]]> The Challenge for Conservatism Letxa Tue, 04 Nov 2008 20:30:00 -0600 http://www.letxa.com/articles/27
  • Effectively communicating the merits of our positions to the country.
  • Overcoming a left-leaning mainstream media that effectively tries to impede our ability to accomplish exactly that.In a nutshell our problem can be summed up in a single word: Communication.  Continue reading the article...]]> On Redistributing and Spreading the Wealth Letxa Thu, 30 Oct 2008 08:00:00 -0500 http://www.letxa.com/articles/26 The Dishonesty of Liberalism; namely that Democrats and environmentalists were both dishonest misrepresenting the facts in order to conceal their real goal of wealth redistribution. As I also said in that article, I'd respect both Democrats and environmentalists a lot more if they'd just own up to the fact that that's what they want to do.

    To my surprise my sister made no bones about it: Yes, Democrats like her do want to redistribute wealth. They think that is the purpose of government. She also said that Democrat candidates and politicians, when talking to fellow Democrats, do not make any attempt to conceal that at all. So I'm glad I can respect my sister: She had no problems admitting that Democrats do want to redistribute wealth.  Continue reading the article...]]>         The Financial Crisis: Causes, Deregulation, and Big Government Letxa Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:00:00 -0500 http://www.letxa.com/articles/25 to the tune of $29 billion, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to the tune of $200 billion, money markets to the tune of $50 billion , and a wholesale bailout of the mortgage industry for $700 billion . That's almost a trillion dollars in government bailouts so far this year--from a government that doesn't have a trillion dollars!

    Of course--and unfortunately--this being a presidential election year, this is being used for extensive political reasons. Obama is using the situation as proof that deregulation doesn't work and that big government is the answer and Republicans are the problem. Meanwhile, McCain hasn't--so far--assigned any substantial blame other than a lack of oversight at the SEC . However, it has been pointed out that Bush proposed significantly more oversight for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac back in 2003 and that Democrats in Congress actually opposed that additional regulatory oversight.

    I have a very serious interest in determining what happened. If, as Obama claims, this is all due to a lack of regulation, then that's a good argument for more regulation and I'd be interested in learning who effectively dropped the ball. I'm a Republican, not an anarchist. That means while I do prefer the minimum amount of government and regulation necessary, that doesn't mean I advocate for no government and no regulation. So I really don't care whose "fault" this is. I just want to know what happened so I can form a personal opinion of what needs to be done to fix it and make sure it doesn't happen again.  Continue reading the article...]]>         Obvious Media Bias Against Gov. Sarah Palin Letxa Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:00:00 -0500 http://www.letxa.com/articles/24 hypothetical news story. Please understand it is not real, but pretend for a moment it was:

    WARNING: THIS IS NOT A REAL STORY!!

    Biden spouse was member of baby-killing party
    Tracy Jacobs was twice registered with the Democratic Party

    Senator Joe Biden's wife, Tracy Jacobs, twice registered as a member of the Democratic Party, a fierce abortion rights group that wants to make sure as many babies as possible are killed. Joe Biden himself was never a member of the party, according to state officials.

      Continue reading the article...]]> Sarah Palin for VP? Might be Genius Letxa Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:30:00 -0500 http://www.letxa.com/articles/23 .

    Who?

    Exactly. I hadn't ever heard of her before today. I think that's true of most of the country, Republicans included. From Alaska? That doesn't bring much potential to influence swing states or any large regional voting blocks. She definitely appears to be conservative so it doesn't seem like Republicans should have a problem with her, but her anonymity isn't likely to excite many Republicans either. So what's the point?  Continue reading the article...]]>