Greek philosopher Zeno’s most famous paradox was an attempt
to show that motion is a myth. In Zeno’s scenario, Achilles must race a tortoise
and because Achilles is much faster he gives the tortoise a head start. Surely
a demigod outraces a plodding reptile with four-inch legs, right?
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| Zeno of Elea (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
“Not so fast, my friend,” said Zeno of Elea, who may have
been an ancestor of ESPN commentator Lee Corso. After the contestants begin
running, Achilles reaches the starting point of the tortoise, but the tortoise
is also moving and is at a point farther down the track. Achilles will soon
reach that second point, but his armored rival has again moved on. This
scenario repeats an infinite number of times because there are an infinite
number of points between the two.
The point (pun intended) Zeno was attempting to make was that while
Achilles gains on the tortoise he can never catch him. The current – and more
accurate – scenario is the reduction of the deficit can never reduce the debt.
The deficit is like the gap between Zeno and the tortoise; it doesn’t matter how much you reduce the deficit, income never catches
spending and thus every year we are more in debt. When a politician brags on “reducing
the deficit” - and I’m looking at you Barack Obama - remember they’re losing
ground to a tortoise and at the end of the day our federal government is more
in debt.
