Welker’s Wikinomics Blog » Big government, small government? What, exactly, do the Republicans stand for?

Sep 04 2008

Big government, small government? What, exactly, do the Republicans stand for?

Published by Jason Welker at 10:09 pm under

Palin’s Intellectual Bipolar Disorder - Mises Economics Blog

Jeffrey Tucker at the Mises Economics Blog wonders what’s up with the conflicting statements coming from Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin:

One the one hand, she assails Obama as favoring big government, more taxes, more control from Washington, and everyone goes nuts denouncing government. Then only a few sentences later, she is blasting Obama for not favoring war enough, for wanting to give people too many rights, for not wanting military victory over the entire planet. People cheer that too.

Do these people not realize that the same government that controls from Washington is also the institution that she is proposing have a world empire? Do these people not realize that global military occupation costs money that comes out of the pockets of American citizens? Do they not realize that a government that cares nothing about the rights of foreigners is not going to have much respect for the rights of its citizens either?

Sarah Palin - VP acceptance speech - Sep 3, 2008 pt1

Palin makes it sound so simple: Obama wants to take money out of Americans’ pockets and make us all poorer. Here’s his plan from Obama’s own website:

About the author: Jason Welker is a teacher at Zurich International School in Switzerland, where he teaches Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Economics. Jason was an international school student in Malaysia before studying economics at Seattle University then earning his Masters in Education. He calls Seattle and Northern Idaho home. In addition to maintaining an economics wiki and this blog for economics student and educators, Jason also gives presentations on using Web 2.0 tools in education at workshops and conferences around the world. His economics wiki won the 2007 "Best Educational Wiki" award from the "EduBlog Awards".

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3 Responses to “Big government, small government? What, exactly, do the Republicans stand for?”

# Bill Farrenon 05 Sep 2008 at 1:29 am

Here’s an interesting related article about military Keynesianism:

“The imperial project is expensive. The flow of the nation’s wealth—from taxpayers and (increasingly) foreign lenders through the government to military contractors and (decreasingly) back to the taxpayers—has created a form of “military Keynesianism,” in which the domestic economy requires sustained military ambition in order to avoid recession or collapse.”

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/01/0081346
# Horia Stanescuon 07 Sep 2008 at 10:04 pm

Interesting how Palin focused on the criticizm of Obama and very little on what she is going to do for the economy. The funniest thing is how she claims that Obama wants to take the money out of the pockets of the American people but doesnt’ say anything about her 27 million dollar earmark for the city of which she was mayor of with a population of 6,700.
# Fabienne Bergaminon 10 Sep 2008 at 3:29 pm

I totally agree with Horia Stanescu. Why would she focus on just one person instead of focusing on the economy of the United States.
Isn’t it when Obama would take money out of the pockets of the American people, they would just have to pay more taxes which would be really unfair. Average Amercians are not that rich so how would they afford it?