“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
Sadly I think Lukaschenko is less Pro-Putin than Trump is.
That's why i want trump to be in charge there. i want trump to be so far up Putin's ass, Putin then annexes and declares Belarus is now part of Russia. he then uses that as a justification to conscript men in the region into the military.
it will cause mass riots and a possible coup inside the Kremlin. CIA needs to hop on that asap.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
Thanks for sharing those. I have no idea what that caucus was thinking with that letter. It was ignorant, at best.
It also shows a potential riff, which Putin would seize upon, and we already have enough issues with the Republicans (McCarthy, Vance, etc.) falling prey to that, let alone with people like Tucker Carlson openly sticking up for Putin on national television (both ours and Russia's, incidentally).
Blue ostriches on crack float on milkshakes between the sidewalk titans of gurglefitz. --YTown
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
That's hideous. What's odd to me is the near-perfect arm locking pro-Putinism seen on the far right from various places. It really makes me wonder what's going on behind the scenes.
Blue ostriches on crack float on milkshakes between the sidewalk titans of gurglefitz. --YTown
I think it goes back to their "America first" slogan and beliefs. I'm not sure if they never took American history or just forgot it. Isolationism has never played out well and both of the previous world wars make that starkly evident. I guess they would rather spend trillions after another world war breaks out than spend billions now to prevent one. Defending democracy no longer seems that high on their priority list. Maybe it won't be until Putin takes over Europe before they give a damn. Who really knows?
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Well, the funny thing is they don't want to spend the money, yet look at our national debt under our last administration. nO WasTeFUl SpEnDiNG!!!!!!
The other thing is - and I'm speculating that you probably agree with me - that the "America first" slogan is just a ruse on their part. That's the thread I'm trying to pull on. It seems pretty clear to me that their self interest, furthered by misinformation and power grabs leads me to believe there is something far more nefarious going on through some sort of back channel, revenue stream, etc. I just can't otherwise make sense out of why things like the following happened:
1. Trump never - to my recollection - publicly countered Putin. In fact he did the opposite, very publicly, when it came to him putting down our intelligence in favor of Putin. If you look at his history of Tweets regarding Putin, he is very complimentary. Never bashed him. Never ran contrary to him.
2. Tucker Carlson. The guy's program has appeared on Russian state television several times now. He put a lot of effort in defending Putin against allegations for the destruction of the Nordstream pipeline sabotage.
3. I'll just say a catch-all for everyone from your comment to MTG, to Vance, to McCarthy and a host of others who are more than content to let Putin have Ukraine. Hell, even McConnell contrasted with them. That goes to show you that the fringe is at it once again.
My specific example of what is causing this reaction from their side is obviousy speculation, but I don't know what the hell else would spur this type of behavior. It stinks to high heaven.
Blue ostriches on crack float on milkshakes between the sidewalk titans of gurglefitz. --YTown
Bro, when this whole thing started, you were talking about real life Red Dawn, and now you’re saying we can’t afford it???
Actually, what I said was... we needed to stay out of it. Also, i said that if we moved tons of troops to Europe it would expose us to invasion on the west coast. Which... would give China an opportunity to invade.
Bro, when this whole thing started, you were talking about real life Red Dawn, and now you’re saying we can’t afford it???
Trump tax cuts ... 1.4 Trillion over ten years. Ukraine ... 18 Billion.
I think the cost to stand up to an aggressor and support allies is well spent
Couldn't agree more. Biden spent 3 Trillion in his first year and wants to spend trillions more.
We've raised our debt ceiling to 31.5 trillion. All the money on the planet, every red cent, equals 40 trillion. We spend over 1T each year in interest payments.
OBVIOUSLY it's all Monopoly money... spend, spend, away. 18 billion? That's like a kid asking me for $5 for a happy meal.
Bro, when this whole thing started, you were talking about real life Red Dawn, and now you’re saying we can’t afford it???
Trump tax cuts ... 1.4 Trillion over ten years. Ukraine ... 18 Billion.
I think the cost to stand up to an aggressor and support allies is well spent
100%. It’s actually helping out in all kinds of various ways, too. The asymmetry of what we’re spending vs the immense damage cause to a very despotic adversary whose absolute goal is to damage our country makes it well worth it.
Second, “staying out of it” when these types of things happen he historically not gone very well.
Third, this is the best type of testing we can get for our weaponry. This isn’t a trial run game against computerized algorithms. This is the real deal. We’ve learned SO much about our capabilities vs our “near-peer” or at least who should have been a near peer. This is beyond a proxy war. A proxy way is when two countries have a proxy to use their weapons and fight for their cause. In this case, we have a proxy, but Russia is a direct combatant. Oh, and by the way, that far inferior proxy we have is kicking their butts using our stuff. This already has and will have a major impact on foreign military sales.
Fourth, there is major value in gaining a partner in a Slavic, former Soviet country so close to Russia. Like Swish mentioned, our “staying out of things” has led to a lot of lost opportunities where others have filled the vacuums. It doesn’t and shouldn’t always be military related, but in this case it is.
Fifth, oh yeah, there’s some pretty egregious human rights abuses happening in a democratic country that simply wants to exist.
Blue ostriches on crack float on milkshakes between the sidewalk titans of gurglefitz. --YTown
Bro, when this whole thing started, you were talking about real life Red Dawn, and now you’re saying we can’t afford it???
Trump tax cuts ... 1.4 Trillion over ten years. Ukraine ... 18 Billion.
I think the cost to stand up to an aggressor and support allies is well spent
Couldn't agree more. Biden spent 3 Trillion in his first year and wants to spend trillions more.
We've raised our debt ceiling to 31.5 trillion. All the money on the planet, every red cent, equals 40 trillion. We spend over 1T each year in interest payments.
OBVIOUSLY it's all Monopoly money... spend, spend, away. 18 billion? That's like a kid asking me for $5 for a happy meal.
Although I agree with you both, I don’t want to make it a which side is worse at spending money and raising the debt, because the ultimate answer at the end of the day is “Yes.”
I think it’s fair to say, though, that at the end of the day, along the lines of what you’re saying, if we could remotely rein in our spending, this would be nothing. In fact, if we could just hold our own defense contractors from raking our DoD over the coals in profit margins, we’d save WAY more than $18 billion.
My qualm on the spending front dovetails with my comments about the extreme right and their favoritism of Russia. They’re trying to make this a “we can’t afford it!” issue when it’s really not one. I’m sure they’d love to waste far, far more than that amount on many other things far more meaningless.
Blue ostriches on crack float on milkshakes between the sidewalk titans of gurglefitz. --YTown
Bro, you definitely mentioned Red Dawn. I remember because it took me back when I read it. I searched but got the 404.
Originally Posted by superbowldogg
Originally Posted by OldColdDawg
And if they do nothing, who's next? Because the whole world knows he won't stop until he's stopped. I'm not sure that he's leaving the world an option.
He won't stop until he wants to stop. Red Dawn could end up being real but, with China while Russia keeps Europe busy.
Bro, you definitely mentioned Red Dawn. I remember because it took me back when I read it. I searched but got the 404.
Like I said, people didn't learn anything from WW2 about what "staying out of it" leads to. Instead some would even try to use "look what Biden has spent" as part of a defense for it.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
^ Fixed the thread above with the Red Dawn quote. Thread was locked and wouldn't let me quote, I did it manually and initially had the names backwards.
Bro, you definitely mentioned Red Dawn. I remember because it took me back when I read it. I searched but got the 404.
Originally Posted by superbowldogg
Originally Posted by OldColdDawg
And if they do nothing, who's next? Because the whole world knows he won't stop until he's stopped. I'm not sure that he's leaving the world an option.
He won't stop until he wants to stop. Red Dawn could end up being real but, with China while Russia keeps Europe busy.
This is accurate and I stand behind this comment.
We could end up in a Red Dawn situation with China if we had shifted enough tons of troops to the east coast and across Europe to defend Ukraine. I think China would have definitely seized that opportunity.
People I speak with on the right want to stay out of it because it's not our war / let Europe deal with Europe's problems / we are not the world's police / we have enough of our own problems / we just left Iraq and that was a mess.
I'm actually shocked Dems/Libs/Socialists would want the USA to get involved because we will have to spend significantly more money against the GDP on the military and less on social services.
Blocking those who argue to argue, eliminates the argument.
There is absolutely no plausible way that would have happened. None. How do you think China would pull that off? I mean, this blows my mind. Russia is having a hell of a time invading their next door neighbor and China isn’t even convinced it could successfully invade Taiwan at this point without massive costs. We literally have them surrounded with close allies. So how do you think they would invade the United States? Swish, am I going crazy here?
I’ve already gone into the cost/benefit analysis in Ukraine. It’s definitely worth the investment. It’s a sinking ship for Russia…unless of course the far right takes over.
Blue ostriches on crack float on milkshakes between the sidewalk titans of gurglefitz. --YTown
Wasteful spending in one area of government doesn't in itself mean more wasteful is justified. But the value of what we're doing in Ukraine is easily justifiable compared to those other areas of waste.
Last edited by mgh888; 11/05/2204:07 PM.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
There is absolutely no plausible way that would have happened. None.
So how do you think they would invade the United States? Swish, am I going crazy here?
I’ve already gone into the cost/benefit analysis in Ukraine. It’s definitely worth the investment.
1. This is literally how Japan and the United States got involved in WW2. If you were alive back then... I bet you would have said the same thing. 2. Well, I said it "could" happen "if" we shifted our forces to Europe & the east coast Europe to help support troops and supplies going to Ukraine. Which, would give China an opportunity as a big chunk of our troops & military resources are in Europe. *Also, this was several months ago before Russia suffered some pretty heavy losses.*
I must have missed your cost/benefit analysis. Can you share it again?
Blocking those who argue to argue, eliminates the argument.
Bro, you definitely mentioned Red Dawn. I remember because it took me back when I read it. I searched but got the 404.
Originally Posted by superbowldogg
Originally Posted by OldColdDawg
And if they do nothing, who's next? Because the whole world knows he won't stop until he's stopped. I'm not sure that he's leaving the world an option.
He won't stop until he wants to stop. Red Dawn could end up being real but, with China while Russia keeps Europe busy.
This is accurate and I stand behind this comment.
We could end up in a Red Dawn situation with China if we had shifted enough tons of troops to the east coast and across Europe to defend Ukraine. I think China would have definitely seized that opportunity.
People I speak with on the right want to stay out of it because it's not our war / let Europe deal with Europe's problems / we are not the world's police / we have enough of our own problems / we just left Iraq and that was a mess.
I'm actually shocked Dems/Libs/Socialists would want the USA to get involved because we will have to spend significantly more money against the GDP on the military and less on social services.
China has no forward basis in the pacific in which to launch such an attack. That would would make for a long supply line and make sustaining an invasion force almost impossible.
It's supposed to be hard! If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard... is what makes it great!
Bro, you definitely mentioned Red Dawn. I remember because it took me back when I read it. I searched but got the 404.
Originally Posted by superbowldogg
Originally Posted by OldColdDawg
And if they do nothing, who's next? Because the whole world knows he won't stop until he's stopped. I'm not sure that he's leaving the world an option.
He won't stop until he wants to stop. Red Dawn could end up being real but, with China while Russia keeps Europe busy.
This is accurate and I stand behind this comment.
We could end up in a Red Dawn situation with China if we had shifted enough tons of troops to the east coast and across Europe to defend Ukraine. I think China would have definitely seized that opportunity.
People I speak with on the right want to stay out of it because it's not our war / let Europe deal with Europe's problems / we are not the world's police / we have enough of our own problems / we just left Iraq and that was a mess.
I'm actually shocked Dems/Libs/Socialists would want the USA to get involved because we will have to spend significantly more money against the GDP on the military and less on social services.
China has no forward basis in the pacific in which to launch such an attack. That would would make for a long supply line and make sustaining an invasion force almost impossible.
In 2019, China had a 335-ship fleet, about 55 percent larger than in 2005, according to a recent Congressional Research Service report titled, “China’s Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities — Background and Issues for Congress.”
“In recent years, they’ve been outbuilding everybody.”
To put it in perspective, during a recent four-year period the naval vessels that Chinese shipyards produced were roughly equivalent in tonnage to the entire U.K. Royal Navy or the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, according to Childs.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy has 293 ships in its battle force, just two more than it had 15 years ago.
Type 055 destroyer Launched in 2017, these 13,000-ton stealth guided-missile destroyers are considered by many to be the most powerful surface combatants in the world.
The Type 055, big enough to be considered a cruiser by NATO standards, is equipped with 112 vertical launch tubes that can used to fire everything from anti-ship missiles to long-range land-attack missiles.
“This ship in particular has a sophisticated design, stealth features, radars, and a large missile inventory. It is larger and more powerful than most US, Japanese, and South Korean destroyers,” RAND Corp. senior analyst Timothy Heath told CNN in 2018, when Beijing launched two of the warships in a single day – a testament to China’s impressive shipbuilding capabilities.
Type 039 submarine These Yuan-class submarines are almost silent diesel-electric-powered boats with capabilities that could prove tough for US military planners to deal with.
Beijing has built 17 of the Type 39A/B subs, with plans to increase that total to 25 in the next three years, according to the US Defense Department’s 2021 report to Congress on China’s military power.
“China’s biggest ferry shipbuilder stated publicly in 2015 that one of its largest roll-on/roll-off ferries was built for dual military and civilian purposes, and one of China’s largest ferry operators has been similarly described as having a dual civil-military development philosophy,” Thomas Shugart, a former US Navy submarine commander now a fellow at the Center for a New American Security, wrote in a 2021 essay for War on the Rocks.
He added that civilian ferry companies operating in the Yellow and South China Seas have already been organized into PLA auxiliary units.
Crunching the numbers, said Shugart, was staggering. He estimated that using civilian ships would give China an extra 1.1 million displacement tonnes. That figure is more than three times the displacement tonnage of all of China’s amphibious assault ships put together. And if China tapped Hong Kong’s roll-on/roll-off vehicle carriers it could gain an extra 370,000 tonnes of sealift, according to Shugart.
“China has now launched three carriers and brought two into full operational status during a period where the US Navy has struggled to bring one new unit to full operational status,” he said.
Schuster was referring to the USS Gerald Ford, a supercarrier that has been plagued by problems since its commissioning in 2017 (by which time it was already three years late).
The supercarrier is yet to make its first operational deployment, though that is expected this fall.
Meanwhile, China forges ahead.
“They are building their navy at a faster rate than the US and all of its allies,” Schuster said.
Blocking those who argue to argue, eliminates the argument.
China having ships doesn't refute my point. To invade, you need to land troops, those troops need supplies. Those supplies would come from China, which is half a world a way. There is a reason we island hopped in WW2 instead of sending our navy straight to Tokyo. The Pacific ocean is big. Without a forward base, China would not be able to maintain an invasion force.
It's supposed to be hard! If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard... is what makes it great!
Bro, when this whole thing started, you were talking about real life Red Dawn, and now you’re saying we can’t afford it???
Trump tax cuts ... 1.4 Trillion over ten years. Ukraine ... 18 Billion.
I think the cost to stand up to an aggressor and support allies is well spent
Couldn't agree more. Biden spent 3 Trillion in his first year and wants to spend trillions more.
We've raised our debt ceiling to 31.5 trillion. All the money on the planet, every red cent, equals 40 trillion. We spend over 1T each year in interest payments.
OBVIOUSLY it's all Monopoly money... spend, spend, away. 18 billion? That's like a kid asking me for $5 for a happy meal.
If people don't insist on social spending, there would never be any social spending. <- This is the true issue. Social spending helps the working class, so the powers that be will do anything to stigmatize social spending. And those same arguments will be used to end Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
Your feelings and opinions do not add up to facts.
There is absolutely no plausible way that would have happened. None. How do you think China would pull that off? I mean, this blows my mind. Russia is having a hell of a time invading their next door neighbor and China isn’t even convinced it could successfully invade Taiwan at this point without massive costs. We literally have them surrounded with close allies. So how do you think they would invade the United States? Swish, am I going crazy here?
I’ve already gone into the cost/benefit analysis in Ukraine. It’s definitely worth the investment. It’s a sinking ship for Russia…unless of course the far right takes over.
SBD is still running with tired talking points. i told you guys before to open a map and look where china is.
im going to tell the board AGAIN to open a map and look where china is.
nevermind the amount of allies we have...scratch that, TAIWAN has in the region. We are not the only country that will defend Taiwan if they're invaded. We have a whole military base in a chain of islands connected to Okinawa that literally has a bunch of naval and air support. China wouldn't even be able to get their ships out of the east and south china sea. Japan is gonna help defend, SK is gonna help defend, the phillipines is gonna help defend, australia is gonna help defend.
for the love of god, people, open a damn map and look where Taiwan is. you are talking about china engaging in what would be the LARGEST amphibious assault attempt in human history. then ON TOP OF THAT, in order for it to be even worth the cost, China would have to show a MASSIVE amount of restraint because the most important infrastructure that China needs would get wiped out almost instantly. they can't even use the big boy equipment because you can't occupy and claim a territory that no longer exist. most of the people, infrastructure, etc exist on the coast, which means everything that makes Taiwan valuable to China in the first place is smack in the middle of the war zone they'd have to create in order to occupy the island. that's even IF they would make it close to shore in the first place, cause ya know, Taiwanese military, their allies and all that.
i didn't mention the counter strike that would OBVIOUSLY happen in response to the invasion, as well as the X factor which is this:
what makes anybody think India is gonna chill in this scenario? they have plenty of reason to roll up into China from the southwestern region. China would have to focus most of its forces specifically on the invasion into Taiwan, meaning they don't stand a chance of defending from a counter attack. that's far TOO much land to defend, and that's just from the EAST.
guys, the logistical restrictions alone would doom China. oh yea, and they're an inexperienced fighting force.
but i bet SBD gonna talk about them war games again, though. im sure China is killing everybody playing Civilization on the laptop. they got that on lock.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
and OMG, ethnic mongols would SO make a play if china did something that stupid like invade Taiwan.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
There is absolutely no plausible way that would have happened. None. How do you think China would pull that off? I mean, this blows my mind. Russia is having a hell of a time invading their next door neighbor and China isn’t even convinced it could successfully invade Taiwan at this point without massive costs. We literally have them surrounded with close allies. So how do you think they would invade the United States? Swish, am I going crazy here?
I’ve already gone into the cost/benefit analysis in Ukraine. It’s definitely worth the investment. It’s a sinking ship for Russia…unless of course the far right takes over.
SBD is still running with tired talking points. i told you guys before to open a map and look where china is.
im going to tell the board AGAIN to open a map and look where china is.
nevermind the amount of allies we have...scratch that, TAIWAN has in the region. We are not the only country that will defend Taiwan if they're invaded. We have a whole military base in a chain of islands connected to Okinawa that literally has a bunch of naval and air support. China wouldn't even be able to get their ships out of the east and south china sea. Japan is gonna help defend, SK is gonna help defend, the phillipines is gonna help defend, australia is gonna help defend.
for the love of god, people, open a damn map and look where Taiwan is. you are talking about china engaging in what would be the LARGEST amphibious assault attempt in human history. then ON TOP OF THAT, in order for it to be even worth the cost, China would have to show a MASSIVE amount of restraint because the most important infrastructure that China needs would get wiped out almost instantly. they can't even use the big boy equipment because you can't occupy and claim a territory that no longer exist. most of the people, infrastructure, etc exist on the coast, which means everything that makes Taiwan valuable to China in the first place is smack in the middle of the war zone they'd have to create in order to occupy the island. that's even IF they would make it close to shore in the first place, cause ya know, Taiwanese military, their allies and all that.
i didn't mention the counter strike that would OBVIOUSLY happen in response to the invasion, as well as the X factor which is this:
what makes anybody think India is gonna chill in this scenario? they have plenty of reason to roll up into China from the southwestern region. China would have to focus most of its forces specifically on the invasion into Taiwan, meaning they don't stand a chance of defending from a counter attack. that's far TOO much land to defend, and that's just from the EAST.
guys, the logistical restrictions alone would doom China. oh yea, and they're an inexperienced fighting force.
but i bet SBD gonna talk about them war games again, though. im sure China is killing everybody playing Civilization on the laptop. they got that on lock.
I don't always agree with you; but you are a wise, wise man.
Bro, when this whole thing started, you were talking about real life Red Dawn, and now you’re saying we can’t afford it???
Trump tax cuts ... 1.4 Trillion over ten years. Ukraine ... 18 Billion.
I think the cost to stand up to an aggressor and support allies is well spent
Couldn't agree more. Biden spent 3 Trillion in his first year and wants to spend trillions more.
We've raised our debt ceiling to 31.5 trillion. All the money on the planet, every red cent, equals 40 trillion. We spend over 1T each year in interest payments.
OBVIOUSLY it's all Monopoly money... spend, spend, away. 18 billion? That's like a kid asking me for $5 for a happy meal.
If people don't insist on social spending, there would never be any social spending. <- This is the true issue. Social spending helps the working class, so the powers that be will do anything to stigmatize social spending. And those same arguments will be used to end Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
When you look at it for the shell game that it is; you also have an awful lot of people busting their buns to make up for a shortfall that is of no fault of their own. I should pay for social spending while our corps laugh all the way too the bank? How 'bout taxing the rich and corps enough so that there's not and ever-increasing, ridiculous, 31T debt ceiling? Busted my ass my whole life for "above average", paid tens of thousands in taxes every year. Responsible for hundreds of thousands each year added to the tax base; as a business owner, treated like the bad guy, when I was always going to be the last dude to get paid.
We have a serious problem in this country with how we pit people against each other that are waaaay below the level of responsibility; but at the end of the day, my money becomes more and more worthless for every person that cries about their stupid decision to spend 300k on a useless college education.
if there was a recent time frame that China could've succeeded in invading and occupying Taiwan, that window was the very moment Russia invaded Ukraine. If those invasions happened at the same time, unfortunately i think a nuke would've already been dropped. but in general, we don't get a united western alliance like we have now because that's just too many parts too spread out globally to respond to.
but months ago i laid out the reason why china wasn't gonna get involved with Putin's nonsense, and THAT was the opportunity to strike from a pure military perspective. but we have to remember that the military perspective only matters when it comes to active engagement. the decision to USE military force revolves around money, resources, bodies, more money, and historical beefs that shouldn't even matter but still do 'cause human beings are gonna human. and because of all that, China isn't - and hasnt - rolled up into Taiwan.
even from a pure military perspective dealing with territory, i dunno if China would be able to justify the invasion effort. the amount of sea and land territory gained wouldn't come close to matching the short AND long term financial losses from all the other consequences of a decision like that.
and i cannot stress this enough: it's not just taiwan and the US they have to fight. and China will be doing this solo dolo, because their best and strongest ally isn't exactly in position to help out at the moment. China doesn't support the invasion into ukraine, and then was shown just how weak russia really is.
FATE, could you imagine what a disaster that would be if you invade with an ally like Russia? That would be similar to the same disastrous military decision Hitler made trusting Mussolini and the italian Army to get ANYTHING accomplished.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
Bro, when this whole thing started, you were talking about real life Red Dawn, and now you’re saying we can’t afford it???
Trump tax cuts ... 1.4 Trillion over ten years. Ukraine ... 18 Billion.
I think the cost to stand up to an aggressor and support allies is well spent
Couldn't agree more. Biden spent 3 Trillion in his first year and wants to spend trillions more.
We've raised our debt ceiling to 31.5 trillion. All the money on the planet, every red cent, equals 40 trillion. We spend over 1T each year in interest payments.
OBVIOUSLY it's all Monopoly money... spend, spend, away. 18 billion? That's like a kid asking me for $5 for a happy meal.
If people don't insist on social spending, there would never be any social spending. <- This is the true issue. Social spending helps the working class, so the powers that be will do anything to stigmatize social spending. And those same arguments will be used to end Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
When you look at it for the shell game that it is; you also have an awful lot of people busting their buns to make up for a shortfall that is of no fault of their own. I should pay for social spending while our corps laugh all the way too the bank? How 'bout taxing the rich and corps enough so that there's not and ever-increasing, ridiculous, 31T debt ceiling? Busted my ass my whole life for "above average", paid tens of thousands in taxes every year. Responsible for hundreds of thousands each year added to the tax base; as a business owner, treated like the bad guy, when I was always going to be the last dude to get paid.
We have a serious problem in this country with how we pit people against each other that are waaaay below the level of responsibility; but at the end of the day, my money becomes more and more worthless for every person that cries about their stupid decision to spend 300k on a useless college education.
Tell me how I'm out of line...
You're preaching to the choir, but every time anyone wants to raise taxes on the wealthy and corps, idiots start yelling communism/socialism until it doesn't pass or GOPers overturn it. Did you really think your argument would be an issue with me? And in a truly free and social society, everyone should pay their share regardless if every penny helps you or not. One prime example I can think of where little folks got screwed over was this pandemic-era business loan. Multi-billion dollar companies swallowed up the first round and bought back shares with the money. But bad actors like Trumps and MGT got theirs too. MGT got over a million bucks while calling people who were in dire straights because the country was shut down "takers". She worked hard to end unemployment in red states early and to make sure the money bonanza was for the rich only. WTH did MGT ever do that was worth a million bucks in free money? Tell me that. If we want to fix America, that kind of corruption has to go first.
And without social spending, we will never be able to fix the income and wealth disparity in this country, meaning it will only get worse. All this inflation is mostly price gouging because the working class took a stand for higher pay and because people got a little ahead during lockdowns and we can't have working people in the position of being able to make real decisions about their finances. Nope, that called for fearmongering about shortages of goods and labor. But it was really just a big ass money grab. It's all meant to put the average guy back on that paycheck-to-paycheck treadmill. A working-class adult hamster wheel is a better analogy. Working our asses off and getting nowhere fast is exactly how they want us. That's why m minimum wage is so low. If you have to fall back on any kind of social program, it will never be enough to live on. So keeping half or more of the country in survival mode turns out to be good for business if/when you are profiteering. Imagine having more money than 99% of the people in the country and still being greedy enough to say you NEED more. This is where we are at.
Last edited by OldColdDawg; 11/05/2209:22 PM.
Your feelings and opinions do not add up to facts.
In case you missed it, we have been screaming that the corporations and billionaires haven't been paying their fair share for a very long time. Everything has been done to try and change that. As it pertains to the middle class and small businesses it's always been supported by many of us that they be protected and not be overburdened while the rich get special treatment. As OCD said, you're preaching to the choir.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
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