US public spending

[Brad DeLong]

>Max B. Sawicky <sawicky at bellatlantic.net> writes:
>
>
>"I spend a lot of time inveighing against regressive
>taxes, but I am more concerned about the impact of
>a shrinkage of the public sector."
>
>Why? I heard that GW Bush was calling upon congress to raise the 
>limit on govt. spending.
>
>For myself I would much prefer to see the US public sector shrunk, 
>since as far as I can see its principal activity is killing people.
>
>I'm happy to oppose cuts where these are an attack on people's 
>living standards, but it doesn't seem obvious to me that government 
>expenditure is per se good. Is spending on military, police, 
>prisons, subsidies to industry, bailouts of banks ... or currencies 
>a good thing? Even most welfare spending is degrading in its 
>character, representing what Marx called the institutionalisation of 
>poverty.
>--
>James Heartfield

And another neo-conservative is born...