Tomatoes, riots, revolutions, clueless people and pain

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If you have ever had a garden, think tomatoes, peppers, squash, etc., then you enjoyed the end results of that garden. At the same time you know an end is coming. The plants will die. They won't produce forever.

Limited space means limited plantings

At the same time, when you get ready to plant a garden, you have a limited space in which to plant. You have to decide what you want. Once it's in the dirt and growing, unless you want to completely start over, you're stuck with what you have.

In other words, there's no more room.

The mantra is growth, growth, growth. What do you do when you can't grow any more?

Meet Remerton, GA - Remerton is a city within a city that is completely land locked by the City of Valdosta. The Strickland Cotton Mill brought about the formation of Remerton in 1899.  In 1951, the Strickland Mill and village became the incorporated City of Remerton.

For many years, Remerton has been faced with the problem that so many people refuse to admit even exists.

Mathematical proof of a limit.

There's an upper limit to growth. When you hit that limit, what can you do? What do you do?

One more story before today's point. Lemme introduce you to a friend. On most topics, my friend is not only sane, but very intelligent. I've gone to him for help on several subjects.But. He believes the solution to the nation's economic woes is to raise taxes, raise the spending limit and raise the debt ceiling.

I don't get that.

There is a limit.

If you have been paying a modicum of attention to news these days, you know there are riots in Greece. The Greek legislature has voted on "austerity" measures which are cutting public employee pay, benefits and pensions. The cuts are a requirement for Greece to get bailout money.

If Greece doesn't get bailout money, it will collapse. Or will it?

As government grows, the private sector shrinks.

The government there can't borrow any more money. It therefore cannot continue deficit spending.

So, the government there can't continue the kind of fiscal outlays it has been doing unless taxes go up dramatically. Greek citizens are already taxed pretty well.

At some point a government can tax the populace to the point where they do not have enough money to live on. Not enough money for food, housing, clothes, etc.

The legislature in Great Britain is also implementing cost cutting measures, which is resulting in strikes by certain sectors.

I just like this image.

These countries which have required a fiscal bailout, which means SERIOUS cuts to government spending whether they like it or not, all have one thing in common.

Their deficit was equal to or greater than the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

While GDP is more nebulous than Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign, it can be computed. It can be examined. It is a record of a country's productivity.

When a nation's productivity is equal to or less than the country's debt, well, look at Greece.

The most recent report on GDP and the national debt says the two will be equal in 10 years.

Got a turnip handy?

If that happens in the United States, raising taxes will only make matters worse. The only solution, borne out by modern times and the historic record, is to cut government spending. How that spending is cut has varied, but has included a violent overthrow of the existing government.

I am not advocating we storm Washington and commit bloodshed and mayhem. I am merely saying this has been done in other places.

In other words, your garden is this big and you can't make it any bigger. If you intend to plant something new, you gotta tear out something already there.

Remerton can grow, but only destructively. It can only uses what it has as best it can. Anything new for Remerton means something old must be taken out first.

In all these cases, there is tremendous pain that must be suffered through. In your garden, you lose what was growing while the new plants take root and take time to produce. That interim means no fresh vegetables. Then you have no absolute guarantee what you replanted is going to be better than what you tore out.

And not the fun kind either

For Remerton, a new business replacing an old business means no sales tax while the new biz is setting up. It may also mean a loss of jobs for a while, if not permanently

My friend, as smart as he may be in other things, just doesn't have a clue what increased borrowing means. It's merely delaying some pain. The pain is going to have to be dealt with. The only we put it off, the worse its going to be.