This Is BIG (Think Of the Implications): 'California in Surplus' - Paul Krugman/NYT

[freshwest]

61. Please explain - do you mean that the deficit is like a credit card?

And the debt is what on that credit card - that is, it's someone else's money that is being used. I'm trying to get my head around this as we're going into a new era of determining priorities. Some things, for example, are not under fire by creditors in other nations, such as social spending or here, military expenses.

If people are the priority, those are considered what is necessary to keep the government going - like a healthy workforce. If defense is top of the list, then armaments are the necessary item for government to survive - and possibly then the people's health.

Sometimes we hear social safety net items referred to as 'liabilities' or 'unfunded liabilities.' Defense is not considered in those terms. If it was, it would bring about a more reasonable policy.

As to that matter, what actually are the 'assets' of a nation? Public land, the works of labor, air, water, armaments, resources? Who owns or has right to put those things under the control of government?

I think we are coming to some interesting questions about the nature of government, such as the Founding Fathers did.