J.R. said:I agree with you on the basics for disabled. I'd really like that SS that I paid in, not for the $, but the principle. I have paid in to SS since 1981.FLBear5630 said:Personally, I think a modern 1st world Nation should provide basics for the elderly and disabled. I have no problem with SS and Medicare. SS people paid in their whole lives. Medicare, we should provide basic medical care, it is not a moral high bar.Mothra said:I don't disagree that entitlement programs have created several generations of Americans reliant on govt. sustenance. It is the end result of the welfare state. And no doubt there are people in lines of work such as yourself that are reliant on govt. spending to make a living.FLBear5630 said:It comes down to priorities. There a hard costs that HAVE to be paid. Either taxes get raised, you have more user fees, or you cut services. Funny the arguments you see for which to cut or how to survive.Mothra said:FLBear5630 said:I do give Carter credit for trying. Is it possible? No way. Budget is incredible. Met with a guy at USDOT that worked in budget. He worked in "Modes", he worked on funding for modes of transportation. Not projects, but modes. Air, Rail, Bicycle, Pedestrian, Maritime, Roads, Transit, Freight the numbers were so big it made your head hurt. This was not even to States, that was the next step. The most unappreciated word in the English Language is scale. People just have no idea the scale we are talking about. Trying to compare the US Budget to a Corportation or their own Business is just not possible.ATL Bear said:Yep. We are lost in the forest of continuing resolutions. It's an absolute shame, and a dereliction of the legislature's duties.Oldbear83 said:I will say one thing for Jimmy Carter - he tried to zero-base the Federal Budget, Nowadays, we're lucky to have Congress even suggest creating a formal budget at all.ATL Bear said:We got as close as possible in 1999/2000 FYs, but we dipped into SS collections a little to fully balance it, so technically you are correct. But we did have more collections from all sources than we had expenditures to all sources. Given where we are today that looks like Ebenezer Scrooge frugality.Oldbear83 said:By any sane accounting standard, we have not had a balanced budget in the past 150 years.ATL Bear said:Don't disagree. In this ancient past when politicians of opposite stripes worked together, they even passed things like welfare reform, immigration reform (expanded deportation actually), and balanced budgets.Whiskey Pete said:Also it should be noted that the Clinton administration benefited from the explosion of the internet. Companies like E*Trade were created and made "the market" accessible to people that previously didn't have access or interest. Trillions of dollars of new money flowed into public traded companies and the dot com boom was born.ATL Bear said:If it's results based, Clinton wins that race by a comfortable distance.Oldbear83 said:Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, Biden.J.R. said:Trump is the best President of the 21st century . Certainly you cannot serious.Oldbear83 said:Romney was a self-serving career politician who neither knew nor cared what the average American needed.J.R. said:Romney is self made. Trump is not!whiterock said:
Had dinner Monday evening at home with wife and our mayor who is a single black female, mid50's, not partisan political at all. Special ed teacher. Never held office. Father had a couple terms on the council. She served one term on the council the challenged a sitting mayor and won big on a platform to fix potholes and is doing exactly that.
With some mixed feelings she is going to vote Trump. She can put up with the theater because he gets stuff done that matters…
The neverTrumpers could be missing something big because they believe it best to double down on the Romney class that has greased the skids for the progressive agenda that got us into this mess and is offended that ordinary people are outraged about it.
JR you are engaging in garden variety class snobbery and don't even realize it (just like Romney).
Trump is a self-serving bloviator who delivered at least some of what he understood the average American needs.
What does it say about our nation, when Trump is the best President so far of the 21st Century?
Yes, as hard as it is to take, Trump leads that group if we judge by policy and results.
Also, when Republicans took control of congress in '94, that played a role as well.
I give Carter credit, it was a noble endeavor, but doomed to failure from the start.
I am hoping they can get something passed and we can stop the CRs. Pass the Budget and let's build some *****
So keep passing a larger debt down to future generations?
No thanks. I don't subscribe to the Paul Krugman school of "the debt doesn't matter." At some point in the future we are going to have to pay the piper.
1 - If you are well to do, you say cut services and if you are like many you blame it on the person making bad decisions (as you talk about your investment watch collection).
2 - If you are struggling, but educated, you take advantage of the system. Use the Bankruptcy code restructure and take a hit on the credit rating for a while.
3 - If you are just on the poor working end or on a fixed income, you don't want them to cut SS, Medicare as you rely on them to survive.
The spending most talk about cutting is the last group, but usually those doing that don't have to rely on it. But, that is because they made superior decisions and are just better at life than those poor schmucks that didn't invest in watches at the right time. Aren't those that don't need it great! Much better than everyone else, which is the true message.
Sorry, see too many on fixed incomes that lived their lives working everyday that now are fearful if eggs go up another .25$ they will have to cut coffee from their lives or put the water heater on a timer.
However, when the system comes crashing down around us, or more likely, around our children (and it will, eventually, as spending like we do is unsustainable), I suspect we are going to say we should have swallowed that pill a long time ago. Yes, it will hurt going down, but it will be better than total financial collapse.
All we are doing at this point is prolonging the inevitable.
I have issues with the able bodied that get funded. I actually have no problem cutting aid to stable Nations that do not need it. No problem with NATO paying for more of their share of Defense or paying us to provide it.
Infrastructure, Homeland Security/Border and Defense are the areas to me that is non-negotiable.
You should get it. I am not for their being a wealth threshold. You pay in, you to get it. You should be allowed to say no, give it to someone else, but it should be your choice.
