@AverageJoe1 saidI would appreciate it if the government spent less money, overall. I don't generally nit pick over specific areas, except that I am particularly suspect of wasted federal spending in the areas of military and farming.
Will someone please dissect, diagram, whatever, this premise? Sue will not, she wimps out. I nail that Biden did wrong, like President Bill did when he paid off the loan of a street person at a pawn shop. I submit that There is no difference. Sue will not tell us if she sees a difference. If she does not, then she admits that Biden did wrong. Bill used his treasury, Biden used his treasury.
Military: The pentagon conducted its own audit and found hundreds of billions of administrative waste. These dollars were labeled not useful for military readiness. They go to bloated, inefficient government "contractors" with mid six figure salaries who don't do anything. And yet, we have Republicans and Democrats eager to give them more and more money every year.
Farming: "Here's your check".... Government checks written to farmers are not a one time thing like loan payoffs. Its something like $35 billion per year.
I'm sorry, Joe. The student loan paybacks are bad, but they're not as bad as these permanent slices of the pie that are just wasted by people who are already rich. In a relative sense, I can envision those student loan borrowers spending their money on a house instead of giving to the government every year. That's a good thing!
Farm handouts? They just keep planting unprofitable crops year after year after year, then sitting around waiting for their $32 billion handout. That's gross.
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@wildgrass saidThe farmiinf subsidies have been studied tooth and nail, they are an instrument to balance agriculture in the country. There are reasons easily googleable. And do on all you want on military, sure there has been overage spending, maybe because it is too large to get a handle on, so I agree we 'spend too much'. But there are many pansies, some on this forum, who seemingly are saying to not have anything but just something, like, say, the swiss guards at the Vatican.
I would appreciate it if the government spent less money, overall. I don't generally nit pick over specific areas, except that I am particularly suspect of wasted federal spending in the areas of military and farming.
Military: The pentagon conducted its own audit and found hundreds of billions of administrative waste. These dollars were labeled not useful for military r ...[text shortened]... year after year after year, then sitting around waiting for their $32 billion handout. That's gross.
If were he miliatry czar, I wojud call a meeting and write down all that we need for military, 1000 jets, 100 tanks, etc etc.
But there are people like you who will say, oh, we don't need all that. So, we would disagree in the end. I like to use WWII as an example. Look what we needed then. To use a suzi word, don't you 'fear' the chinee? We gonna let them have Taiwan. ? Sjould we float a few ships near Taiwan, or just let it all happen.
DOnt be shortsighted. We need the ships for that, dont you see.
Are you a pacifist, or just not a realist?
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@AverageJoe1 saidI am a realist.
The farmiinf subsidies have been studied tooth and nail, they are an instrument to balance agriculture in the country. There are reasons easily googleable. And do on all you want on military, sure there has been overage spending, maybe because it is too large to get a handle on, so I agree we 'spend too much'. But there are many pansies, some on this forum, who seemi ...[text shortened]... rtsighted. We need the ships for that, dont you see.
Are you a pacifist, or just not a realist?
Military spending is flagrantly abused. Look no further than the 10 richest counties in the entire country are all nestled around the Pentagon. If government workers are raking in that kind of cash, there's something very wrong.
Farming welfare is about balance? Maybe. For most of the century it cost ~$10 billion but then jumped to $32 billion in 2019. That doesn't seem balanced, sustainable or headed in the right direction. Government could use that money to encourage farmers to grow profitable crops.
From a fiscal responsibility standpoint, these chronic yearly expenditures in the multi-billions just wasted on grubby thieves are much more important issues to work on than student loan debt forgiveness.
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@KellyJay saidI finally caught some of the Kamala interview and it was a disaster for her. I do not think she is very smart. Not because she is black. I have no problem believing her father is smart. It is not because she is a woman either. I just think that Tulsi Gabbard is smarter than Kamala.
Policy or personal slights? Policy or name-calling? Policy or the highlighting of statements pulled out from the past the state of the nation. When more time is given to expressing one's displeasure in people or organizations less time is being spent on policy. Personalities don't affect our lives as much as policy enacted, not what policy opposition parties claim, but what happened.
I heard it is hurting her poll numbers since that interview.
@wildgrass saidYou see me talking about anyone by name, it cannot be simply due to things I see, perhaps they could be against someone you favor or someone you disfavor. Stop reading into something that isn't there on purpose.
Huh?
You started a thread about what people say at prior state of the union addresses and whether we should hold them accountable for saying those things. You're not talking about trump?
There's only one person running who has ever given an SOTU speech. Who were you referring to?
If you weren't talking about trump, this is actually a dumb debate topic.
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@AverageJoe1 saidA policy decision to financially assist young people to receive an education beyond school is a bad thing, do you think? In the UK (where I was born and raised) we used to have a grant system, whereby the government (via the taxpayer) paid for tuition fees, plus a modest living allowance. Without this I (as a case in point) would not have gone to college, and would have lived a very different life. That grant system no longer exists. Take away financial support and inevitably there will be a tendency for only the children of the (relatively) rich to receive further education; any semblance of a 'level playing field', whereby ability in any given discipline takes precedence over the ability to pay, has gone. I'm one of those 'socialists', who believe that a country which does not invest in the further education of its' young people is a failing country. If my taxes are used to better educate someone else, I don't resent a penny (cent) of it, education is never wasted, and is well worth the investment, both in terms of the individual and society as a whole.
Let's discuss it. But to be fair, we need to. be on a level plahing field.
So, please explain the act, by Biden, of taking our tax money and using it to pay down the loans of people who borrowed money to go to college. The Constitution does not allow this, so he is therefore being authoritarian. We have to get that out of the way before finding an act by Trump as au ...[text shortened]... re, but was Biden a dictator when he closed the pipe line on day one?
A lot of thin lines here.
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@KellyJay saidAaaahahahahahaha, hypocrite.
You see me talking about anyone by name, it cannot be simply due to things I see, perhaps they could be against someone you favor or someone you disfavor. Stop reading into something that isn't there on purpose.
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@Metal-Brain saidYou're insane.
I finally caught some of the Kamala interview and it was a disaster for her. I do not think she is very smart. Not because she is black. I have no problem believing her father is smart. It is not because she is a woman either. I just think that Tulsi Gabbard is smarter than Kamala.
I heard it is hurting her poll numbers since that interview.
You heard wrong.
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@AverageJoe1 saidOf course she is. Tulsi left the Democratic Party, just like Kyrsten Sinema. I can only assume it was for a similar reason: the Republicans bought her out. She couldn't hack being a star in the Democratic Party, so she took the Republican money and ran. She has endorsed Trump this year and J.D. Vance and Kari Lake in 2022, and this alone speaks to her intelligence for being for sale to the highest bidder.
Do you think Kamala is smarter than Tulsi? Haha. What would be cool is for trump to bring tulsi along on the debate. I wish it big time.