Re: The 112th Congress: Debt ceiling edition
Military Bands.
That's been my beef with many so called conservatives for years. They are all about cutting government...that is until its something they want. Then the are opposed. In the end, they're like everyone else by wanting to cut other peoples stuff while funding their own. The difference is that while others fail to do something they campaigned on...often conservatives lie on the campaign trail by design. And the worst part about it...that the things they want to protect are those that add the least amount of value to society.
Sorry...but when I see the deficit is wildly out of control, stuff like failing to cut wasteful spending gets to me.
And the biggest thing you could think of was military bands? We've probably been funding that since 1790. How about the stimulus money spent on Operation Gunwalker? Not only did it waste money, but it got Americans murdered. There are thousands of plain ol' wastes. I mean, how much we spending on "green tech" that will eventually be stolen by the Chinese? But really a lot of the extras don't matter compared to the big ones... entitlement spending and the great society.
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Interesting we see the "radicalization of the right".... does anybody have any concept of what kinds of spending we've normalized, that is made to consider normal... that adopting 2008 spending schemes is considered radical? That we still have people pressing for free healthcare and free education? Its been the same thing with the dems... they'll stake a position that is further out and then claim that you should compromise to their middle. And then they get upset when the conservatives start to think "woah buddy, other way around... you don't play fair with us, we won't play fair with you"... but no, its only those stupid low-info cons who have to be brought to heel. The high-information people who ignore harmful data are good to go.
Again, its always funny to see the party of dreamers claim the high-ground on intellectualism when they foster ideologies which advance dreams over realities. The party of the artists, actors, spiritualists, and the painfully-low-info-but-they-care-dammit types. Really? You think I care about the droolers on the right? They aren't the ones who occupy the seat of power under any administration. They aren't the ones that took us to the brink. They aren't the ones that are leading us to become Greece.
I think this comment pretty much captures my feelings on things:
You're an engineer... tell me how this all plays out if we increase the debt ceiling without serious and significant concessions on spending? Yes, its a game of chicken right now... but you know what... either one can blink... but only one is supposed to out of moral goodness? That it would just be unfair otherwise? Tell me, why do those evil low-info Republicans have to blink first? Why is it imperative that the dems don't? I find it interesting that all these high-info people have put us into a place where we need to consider the debt-ceiling so much. Surely their intelligence could have had the foresight to avoid this day?
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Bottom line... its spending that got us today... and the only thing we've said with any clarity... is that we don't have any intention to stop spending as we'd be denied the great things we've convinced ourselves we can provide. Of course doing so will put us into a debt hole and make us generally worthless. We'll have to provide less or else we won't be able to provide to begin with (but you haven't thought about that, have you). But you know, as long as feel good about lying to ourselves and as long as we blame the right people (you know, the stupid people) things will turn out fine. Afterall, its America... things magically work 'cause we woke up this morning dontcha know.
