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I suspect many readers have dabbled in Sunday church attendance. Here is a Coasean thought for those who worry about US National Defense spending and the budget. Perhaps the best way to salvage the federal budget (absent entitlement reform) and to also protect ourselves militarily is to immediately and unilaterally drop all subsidies and tariffs. The latter may only reduce revenues a tiny bit directly, but will surely yield larger long-term tax benefits to the government too. My priors tell me we can cut the formal “military” budget by 50% along with these reforms and we’ll be both safer and richer. And maybe instead of my priest telling me that Jesus would have liked to see us all spread the wealth around a little more, he mentioned something like this, I’d be a little more willing to come on Sundays …

One Response to “Sunday Morning Thought”

  1. Harry says:

    I think you are wrong about cutting spending for ships, airplanes, and ammo, even though there are likely many ways not to waste money, billions.

    Whenever I hear about budget cuts, it is always about the baseline, a stupid conversation. Why, if we want to cut, we go back to the same amounts, in inflation-adjusted dollars, when Rizzo got married, or, even better, when I got married? The answer to the question requires more information about prices and dates, but when I got married, gold peaked at $800 per ounce, just before Ronald Reagan beat Jimmy Carter.

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