Redbrickbear said:

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whiterock said:

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Redbrickbear said:

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whiterock said:

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Redbrickbear said:

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Sam Lowry said:

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boognish_bear said:

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North Korean troops joining the conflict is the reason the US finally green lit Ukraine to strike at Russia with long-range missiles.

A U.S. official has called Kim’s decision a “costly mistake.”

Source: Washington Post. pic.twitter.com/x3k9PcRxjM

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) November 17, 2024

---

LOL

---

A few years down the road we will find out that no N. Korean troops were ever sent into Ukraine

But why spoil a good yarn cooked up in DC and spread by cat ladies in the State Department and at NPR…

What a lovely parting gift from Biden. He's blown past almost every escalation barrier in the past 2.5 years, after first playing the PR game where the administration acts like they're gravely conflicted. Firing missiles at **North Korean** troops is another dimension of disaster pic.twitter.com/MjVPdvkXKQ

— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) November 17, 2024

---

Technically, they are not in Ukraine now. They are in Russia, on the Kursk front. It's still a remarkable escalation.

Ignore Putin's threats…..

---

The moment never happens…until it does

---

Russia is not going to nuclear war over Ukraine. Is it really plausible that it would nuke a country it wants to occupy?

---

Probably not

But its a pretty crazy thing to escalate on....a worthless rusting out ex-soviet state that is highly corrupt and with a significant russian ethnic minority population right on the borders of Moscow.
Exactly. It was exceedingly unwise for Russia to invade a place like that. They could have for decades managed it as a weak, corrupt neutral state which vacillated hot & cold on Russia vs. Nato. Instead, they have galvanized Ukraine into the best army in Europe with a population who will fight Russia to the last man.

I'm sure no one thought a small conflict with tiny Serbia in the summer of 1914 would set the world on fire for decades....and lead to 2 different world wars and 70 million plus deaths and the collapse of an entire international order.
Another good point. Made complete sense that Austria would retaliate against Serbia over the assassination of the Archduke, but not much sense at all that Russia would declare war on a major European power on behalf of a very small country (Serbia) with which it had neither a common border not a treaty obligation. It was a serious miscalculation driven by ancient Russian ambitions to keep pressing toward a port on the Mediterranean, fortified by pan-Slavic romance. And it turned out very, very badly for Russia (particularly the Tsar).

Russia, you see has a bad habit of geopolitical miscalculation. Like, really bad miscalculations.

You and the genius liberals in DC are willing to risk a lot.....for very little in return.

---

The return is in large part already realized. Tens of thousands of armored vehicles and arty systems destroyed, largely eliminating a colossal stockpile and leaving Russia to rebuild with only what an economy the size of Italy can manage. They've suffered 800k casualties (give or take a couple hundred thousand), which given their demographic decline will accelerate the contraction of their manpower pool. They've suffered significant diplomatic and economic isolation, to include erosion of geopolitical position (Finland/Sweden accession to Nato). And on & on, etc...... Russia emerges from the war significantly weakened, ergo a much reduced threat to Nato, with the added insurance of preventing Russian transformation of Ukraine as a springboard for old ambitions in the Balkans and Eastern Europe.

Policy critics reflexively attach significant gravity to the contrived threat (Russian use of nuclear weapons in response to our Ukraine policy) and totally deny the existence of the real threat - re-subsumption of Ukraine back into Russian polity which would move Russian armies 600 miles closer to Nato countries we are obligated to defend. A good strategist must make the tyranny of distance work for him rather than against him.

Most of all, a good strategist does not engage in "end of history" folly. He must understands that time does little to change geography - a country has what it has. Ergo, a country must keep working the same old problems derivative of that geography, over and over and over..... History is a very good guide in that regard. Few countries have more megalomaniacal territorial ambitions than Russia. They don't think they are entitled own or control everything in the world, just everything that touches them.

Redbrickbear said:

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ATL Bear said:

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Redbrickbear said:

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ATL Bear said:

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Redbrickbear said:

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ATL Bear said:

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The_barBEARian said:

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ATL Bear said:

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The_barBEARian said:

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ATL Bear said:

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The_barBEARian said:

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trey3216 said:

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The_barBEARian said:

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ATL Bear said:

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The_barBEARian said:

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ATL Bear said:

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The_barBEARian said:

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ATL Bear said:

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Redbrickbear said:

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ATL Bear said:

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Putin's Russia is getting closer to the Soviet economic dilemmas that crashed it. Defense spending outpacing social spending, rising deficits with increased borrowing costs, inflationary pressures, and a problematic labor force. An unintended weapon Trump will likely initiate is further energy deregulation resulting in lower oil and gas prices (that Russia is already discounting to avoid sanctions) which will put more and more pressure on Russian tax revenues, which are now becoming the primary funding source vs energy.

Meanwhile China is running a debt trap operation on them since the West is sanctioned from buying Russian debt.

---

I don't think the USSR had that particular problem:

"The crude birth rate in the Soviet Union in 1989 was 17.6 per 1,000 people. The average population of the USSR in 1989 was 286,731,000"

"The USSR had a Fertility rate of 2.3 in 1978-79"

They were doing ok-ish on the population stuff....there was a workforce to replace the elderly aging out.

But the modern Russian Federation certainly does have that problem:

[Russia's fertility rate in 2024 is estimated to be 1.46 children per woman, which is well below the 2.1 children per woman needed to maintain population levels.

In the first six months of 2024, Russia's birth rate was the lowest it's been in 25 years. In June, the number of births fell below 100,000 for the first time

Russia's population is aging rapidly due to a number of factors, including low fertility and a high mortality rate

The natural population declined by 997,000 between October 2020 and September 2021 (the difference between the number of births and the number of deaths over a period). The natural death rate in January 2020, 2021, and 2022 have each been nearly double the natural birth rate.]

---

The USSR's labor issues were cultural and skill based not the shortage issue they have today. My comment was simply a problematic workforce.

---

Sound a lot like 2024 America.

TSMC officials claimed the plant they built in Arizona was having problems because the American workforce was too stupid and lazy to develop the technical expertise required to manufacture their semi-conductors.

---

You don't have to tell me. I've been saying it for some time that we can't do here what is done elsewhere from a manufacturing perspective. It's why outsourcing has occurred. To put it in perspective, China and India graduate well over 1 million engineers every year. The U.S. graduates around 100,000. And people wonder why we need to import skilled labor. There's a fundamental shift that has to occur in the American workforce for us to compete from America vs through America.

---

For once we agree.

Instead of wasting billions of dollars on failed proxy wars, use that money to increase the salaries of our top doctors, scientists, and engineers and incentivize young people into pursuing those careers.

---

It's not a compensation issue.

---

And your moment of clarity has passed... doctors, scientists, and engineers are underpaid for the value they bring to society. If you have never worked in STEM you dont know what you are talking about.

---

Look at Bar_Bearian. Always wanting Big Govt Big Handouts....so long as they are to him.

I know quite a few surgeons, doctors, engineers and other STEM oriented folks that get paid quite handsomely, with very little coming from government (outside of contractually obligated stuff from Medicaid/Medicare...which none of them want to deal with since they make less money off that) .

So once again, you just show your ass about small government. You don't want small government. You want big government that makes you the safe space. You want government that selects you and not all "those other people."

Sorry buddy. Keep banging away at the data entry that all the medical doctors do so you can get your paychecks like everyone else does.

---

Of course there are, but the majority are compensated either directly or indirectly by the government.

Over 50% of a typical hospital's patient volume are on Medicare.

NIH spends $50 billion on grants for medical research every year.

The biggest civil engineering firms and defense contractors work on government contracts.

Utility and Energy companies receive government subsidies.

I want a small government but I also want a sensible government.

I would be in favor of the government subsidizing the industrial sector to bring foundaries and steel mills to the US or spending money on GMP and GLP compliant manufacturing facilities and laboratories to resecure our drug supply chain.

The CHIPS act is a sensible idea, but going back to what ATL_Bear said, there is a gap between the supply curve and the demand curve when it comes to qualified workers with the technical abilities to run these facilities and typically we address this gap in a capitalist economy with wage growth and higher salaries.

America doesnt need any more lawyers or finance guys. We have a surplus.

---

You really have no idea what you're talking about. The simplest example is in 2 areas. First, countries with more socialized medicine (government involvement) have lower earnings for physicians, surgeons, specialists, etc. Second, healthcare payments and reimbursement rates are driven down by Medicare/Medicaid and hospitals, surgeons, physicians, etc. struggle for profitability unless they have a healthy private payer, private insurance revenue stream.

So not only is that giant healthcare subsidy/entitlement called Medicare crushing our Federal budget and imperiling our fiscal future, it's strangling the healthcare market, particularly rural hospitals and smaller facilities and practices, and driving up healthcare costs.

So tell me more about how we can F up the engineering market? Because you don't understand the issue. If you want to talk STEM, then just look at how small of a percentage of American students participate in it, and then take a second look at the demographics of those who do. Ironically it matches the global market for those same interests. That's a baseline of the fundamental issue.

And then there's heavy industry, which again is so hamstrung by regulations you can barely get the coal and scrap steel you need to even sniff those types of operations, much less discuss the mining dearth we've cast upon ourselves. And that's not even getting to the labor force that's not even interested in that type of thankless difficult work to participate at the levels other countries manage to execute. We have a supply and skill shortage at pretty much every level of the manufacturing segment, and to change that isn't to artificially inflate the costs or throw more government dollars at it. It's a reevaluation of labor and skill perspectives, as well as massive regulatory and environmental policy shifts.

But the real solution isn't what the wage complainers want, and that is technology, the biggest job killer since tools were invented.

---

I wrote a great reply to address all of your strawmans but I backed out of my post and my brilliance was lost to the ether.

So I will address the major relevant plot point - to compete with China and India, America must subsidize our industries and that includes our specialists and skilled tradesmen. The Chinese and Indian governments both subsidize their industries and that is why it is not economically viable for private industry in America to pursue them. They would take on billions in debt, immediately get cost cut, and go bankrupt within a few years.

These subsidies would pay for themselves by lowering costs and bringing down inflation.

Finally, you and Trey are in no position to lecture anyone on government waste when you both support the most wasteful, corrupt, least beneficial use of tax payer dollars - funding failed proxy wars that are not essential to our national security and offer zero ROI to the American tax payer.

---

Wait, are you actually saying subsidies are lowering costs??? If you think Uncle Sam with his magic subsidy wand fixes the issue, that couldn't be further from the truth. Just look at the scrap heap of ventures the government has destroyed through ineffective subsidy schemes. From the family farm, to Solyndra, to the domestic electronics market, and on and on. Subsidies kill competition and innovation, and game the marketplace, whether at a corporate or individual level. I mean at least with proxy wars you generate manufacturing and service jobs for the defense industry. It's one of the few industries we still actually have success domestically and abroad.

---

Shipping heavy metals and machinery from China or India takes a lot of time and costs a lot of money.

Time and money that could be saved by reindustrializing America.

These industries were all outsourced and sold off in the 80ties and 90ties so some jackoff vulture capitalists could make a quick buck at the expense of middle class American workers.

There is also the national security threat posed to your beloved defense industry being dependent on raw materials and parts from unfriendly nations.

China has strategically used government subsidies to kick our ass.

China now sucks $1 trillion, and growing, per year out of America.

Even India, a country that rather infamously struggles with urban sanitation, is able to out compete America.

China's new trade surplus record

India's largest trading partner is the US, and it is also one of the few countries with which India had a trade surplus in 2022-23

---

I keep telling you why we can't re-industrialize

---

Yes we can

We are the greatest super power on earth

Of course we can re-industrialize if we want

Stop making excuses

---

I'm not the one making excuses. Check the U.S. regulations on coal mining and smeltering and then look at China and tell me how we compete. And that's just one of dozens of examples.

---

A classic case of how tariffs on China could level the playing field for American workers and companies

---

Except the math or practicality doesn't work. Why do you need tariffs? Just do it and enter the market.

---

You don't think things like slave labor and ignoring environmental pollution give China a leg up on producing things?

You don't think certain specific tariffs should be imposed to level the playing field between American companies that follow the law (and morality) and the Chinese communists who don't?

---

Why don't you just "morally" choose to pay more for goods produced domestically?

Quote:

---

Gotta Keep Funneling Money to Ukraine
Don't worry, Ukraine. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wants to assure you he's going to keep funneling money your way until noon on January 20.

BLINKEN: “President Biden has committed to making sure that every dollar we have at our disposal will be pushed out the door [to Ukraine] between now and January 20th” pic.twitter.com/wSoBolJSaX

— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) November 14, 2024

Blinken said at a NATO meeting in Brussels that the U.S. will be sending as much military aid as possible to Ukraine, ensuring that it "has the money, munitions, and mobilized forces to fight effectively in 2025, or to be able to negotiate a peace from a position of strength."
The fact that Blinken is talking about military aid in the context of strengthening Ukraine's negotiating position seems like a tacit understanding that the day is rapidly approaching when Ukraine and Russia will get serious about ending this war. Or perhaps more accurately, NATO will get out of the way of a potential peace deal, and the spigot for U.S. tax dollars heading over there will be shut off.
Trump has long insisted he could put a quick end to the Russia-Ukraine war. During his debate with Joe Biden in June, Trump even claimed he'd have it settled by the time he takes office.
Wouldn't a peace agreement by Christmas be something?

---

If Trump somehow manages to accomplish this, he will have earned a Nobel Peace Prize. Doubtless, the Nobel committee would never award it to him because they are too woke but he will probably deserve it more than anyone else on the planet.

Source: https://stream.org/the-brew-hold-that-breakfast-croissant-rfk-jr-s-coming-to-make-america-healthy-again/

ATL Bear said:

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Redbrickbear said:

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ATL Bear said:

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Redbrickbear said:

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ATL Bear said:

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Redbrickbear said:

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ATL Bear said:

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The_barBEARian said:

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ATL Bear said:

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The_barBEARian said:

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ATL Bear said:

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The_barBEARian said:

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trey3216 said:

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The_barBEARian said:

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ATL Bear said:

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The_barBEARian said:

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ATL Bear said:

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The_barBEARian said:

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ATL Bear said:

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Redbrickbear said:

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ATL Bear said:

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Putin's Russia is getting closer to the Soviet economic dilemmas that crashed it. Defense spending outpacing social spending, rising deficits with increased borrowing costs, inflationary pressures, and a problematic labor force. An unintended weapon Trump will likely initiate is further energy deregulation resulting in lower oil and gas prices (that Russia is already discounting to avoid sanctions) which will put more and more pressure on Russian tax revenues, which are now becoming the primary funding source vs energy.

Meanwhile China is running a debt trap operation on them since the West is sanctioned from buying Russian debt.

---

I don't think the USSR had that particular problem:

"The crude birth rate in the Soviet Union in 1989 was 17.6 per 1,000 people. The average population of the USSR in 1989 was 286,731,000"

"The USSR had a Fertility rate of 2.3 in 1978-79"

They were doing ok-ish on the population stuff....there was a workforce to replace the elderly aging out.

But the modern Russian Federation certainly does have that problem:

[Russia's fertility rate in 2024 is estimated to be 1.46 children per woman, which is well below the 2.1 children per woman needed to maintain population levels.

In the first six months of 2024, Russia's birth rate was the lowest it's been in 25 years. In June, the number of births fell below 100,000 for the first time

Russia's population is aging rapidly due to a number of factors, including low fertility and a high mortality rate

The natural population declined by 997,000 between October 2020 and September 2021 (the difference between the number of births and the number of deaths over a period). The natural death rate in January 2020, 2021, and 2022 have each been nearly double the natural birth rate.]

---

The USSR's labor issues were cultural and skill based not the shortage issue they have today. My comment was simply a problematic workforce.

---

Sound a lot like 2024 America.

TSMC officials claimed the plant they built in Arizona was having problems because the American workforce was too stupid and lazy to develop the technical expertise required to manufacture their semi-conductors.

---

You don't have to tell me. I've been saying it for some time that we can't do here what is done elsewhere from a manufacturing perspective. It's why outsourcing has occurred. To put it in perspective, China and India graduate well over 1 million engineers every year. The U.S. graduates around 100,000. And people wonder why we need to import skilled labor. There's a fundamental shift that has to occur in the American workforce for us to compete from America vs through America.

---

For once we agree.

Instead of wasting billions of dollars on failed proxy wars, use that money to increase the salaries of our top doctors, scientists, and engineers and incentivize young people into pursuing those careers.

---

It's not a compensation issue.

---

And your moment of clarity has passed... doctors, scientists, and engineers are underpaid for the value they bring to society. If you have never worked in STEM you dont know what you are talking about.

---

Look at Bar_Bearian. Always wanting Big Govt Big Handouts....so long as they are to him.

I know quite a few surgeons, doctors, engineers and other STEM oriented folks that get paid quite handsomely, with very little coming from government (outside of contractually obligated stuff from Medicaid/Medicare...which none of them want to deal with since they make less money off that) .

So once again, you just show your ass about small government. You don't want small government. You want big government that makes you the safe space. You want government that selects you and not all "those other people."

Sorry buddy. Keep banging away at the data entry that all the medical doctors do so you can get your paychecks like everyone else does.

---

Of course there are, but the majority are compensated either directly or indirectly by the government.

Over 50% of a typical hospital's patient volume are on Medicare.

NIH spends $50 billion on grants for medical research every year.

The biggest civil engineering firms and defense contractors work on government contracts.

Utility and Energy companies receive government subsidies.

I want a small government but I also want a sensible government.

I would be in favor of the government subsidizing the industrial sector to bring foundaries and steel mills to the US or spending money on GMP and GLP compliant manufacturing facilities and laboratories to resecure our drug supply chain.

The CHIPS act is a sensible idea, but going back to what ATL_Bear said, there is a gap between the supply curve and the demand curve when it comes to qualified workers with the technical abilities to run these facilities and typically we address this gap in a capitalist economy with wage growth and higher salaries.

America doesnt need any more lawyers or finance guys. We have a surplus.

---

You really have no idea what you're talking about. The simplest example is in 2 areas. First, countries with more socialized medicine (government involvement) have lower earnings for physicians, surgeons, specialists, etc. Second, healthcare payments and reimbursement rates are driven down by Medicare/Medicaid and hospitals, surgeons, physicians, etc. struggle for profitability unless they have a healthy private payer, private insurance revenue stream.

So not only is that giant healthcare subsidy/entitlement called Medicare crushing our Federal budget and imperiling our fiscal future, it's strangling the healthcare market, particularly rural hospitals and smaller facilities and practices, and driving up healthcare costs.

So tell me more about how we can F up the engineering market? Because you don't understand the issue. If you want to talk STEM, then just look at how small of a percentage of American students participate in it, and then take a second look at the demographics of those who do. Ironically it matches the global market for those same interests. That's a baseline of the fundamental issue.

And then there's heavy industry, which again is so hamstrung by regulations you can barely get the coal and scrap steel you need to even sniff those types of operations, much less discuss the mining dearth we've cast upon ourselves. And that's not even getting to the labor force that's not even interested in that type of thankless difficult work to participate at the levels other countries manage to execute. We have a supply and skill shortage at pretty much every level of the manufacturing segment, and to change that isn't to artificially inflate the costs or throw more government dollars at it. It's a reevaluation of labor and skill perspectives, as well as massive regulatory and environmental policy shifts.

But the real solution isn't what the wage complainers want, and that is technology, the biggest job killer since tools were invented.

---

I wrote a great reply to address all of your strawmans but I backed out of my post and my brilliance was lost to the ether.

So I will address the major relevant plot point - to compete with China and India, America must subsidize our industries and that includes our specialists and skilled tradesmen. The Chinese and Indian governments both subsidize their industries and that is why it is not economically viable for private industry in America to pursue them. They would take on billions in debt, immediately get cost cut, and go bankrupt within a few years.

These subsidies would pay for themselves by lowering costs and bringing down inflation.

Finally, you and Trey are in no position to lecture anyone on government waste when you both support the most wasteful, corrupt, least beneficial use of tax payer dollars - funding failed proxy wars that are not essential to our national security and offer zero ROI to the American tax payer.

---

Wait, are you actually saying subsidies are lowering costs??? If you think Uncle Sam with his magic subsidy wand fixes the issue, that couldn't be further from the truth. Just look at the scrap heap of ventures the government has destroyed through ineffective subsidy schemes. From the family farm, to Solyndra, to the domestic electronics market, and on and on. Subsidies kill competition and innovation, and game the marketplace, whether at a corporate or individual level. I mean at least with proxy wars you generate manufacturing and service jobs for the defense industry. It's one of the few industries we still actually have success domestically and abroad.

---

Shipping heavy metals and machinery from China or India takes a lot of time and costs a lot of money.

Time and money that could be saved by reindustrializing America.

These industries were all outsourced and sold off in the 80ties and 90ties so some jackoff vulture capitalists could make a quick buck at the expense of middle class American workers.

There is also the national security threat posed to your beloved defense industry being dependent on raw materials and parts from unfriendly nations.

China has strategically used government subsidies to kick our ass.

China now sucks $1 trillion, and growing, per year out of America.

Even India, a country that rather infamously struggles with urban sanitation, is able to out compete America.

China's new trade surplus record

India's largest trading partner is the US, and it is also one of the few countries with which India had a trade surplus in 2022-23

---

I keep telling you why we can't re-industrialize

---

Yes we can

We are the greatest super power on earth

Of course we can re-industrialize if we want

Stop making excuses

---

I'm not the one making excuses. Check the U.S. regulations on coal mining and smeltering and then look at China and tell me how we compete. And that's just one of dozens of examples.

---

A classic case of how tariffs on China could level the playing field for American workers and companies

---

Except the math or practicality doesn't work. Why do you need tariffs? Just do it and enter the market.

---

You don't think things like slave labor and ignoring environmental pollution give China a leg up on producing things?

You don't think certain specific tariffs should be imposed to level the playing field between American companies that follow the law (and morality) and the Chinese communists who don't?

---

Why don't you just "morally" choose to pay more for goods produced domestically?

---

I am happy to pay more for American made products.

But for millions of others the price is the main driver

Liberals and conservatives both know buying from China is helping a really evil State, being produced often times by slaves (or semi-slaves) , and is certainly not been done with the environmental constraints that Americans companies have to follow.

A tariff would even that disadvantage American workers have to labor under.

And make that moral choice much easier for American consumers

Redbrickbear said:

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ATL Bear said:

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Redbrickbear said:

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ATL Bear said:

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Redbrickbear said:

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ATL Bear said:

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Redbrickbear said:

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ATL Bear said:

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The_barBEARian said:

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ATL Bear said:

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The_barBEARian said:

---

ATL Bear said:

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The_barBEARian said:

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trey3216 said:

---

The_barBEARian said:

---

ATL Bear said:

---

The_barBEARian said:

---

ATL Bear said:

---

The_barBEARian said:

---

ATL Bear said:

---

Redbrickbear said:

---

ATL Bear said:

---

Putin's Russia is getting closer to the Soviet economic dilemmas that crashed it. Defense spending outpacing social spending, rising deficits with increased borrowing costs, inflationary pressures, and a problematic labor force. An unintended weapon Trump will likely initiate is further energy deregulation resulting in lower oil and gas prices (that Russia is already discounting to avoid sanctions) which will put more and more pressure on Russian tax revenues, which are now becoming the primary funding source vs energy.

Meanwhile China is running a debt trap operation on them since the West is sanctioned from buying Russian debt.

---

I don't think the USSR had that particular problem:

"The crude birth rate in the Soviet Union in 1989 was 17.6 per 1,000 people. The average population of the USSR in 1989 was 286,731,000"

"The USSR had a Fertility rate of 2.3 in 1978-79"

They were doing ok-ish on the population stuff....there was a workforce to replace the elderly aging out.

But the modern Russian Federation certainly does have that problem:

[Russia's fertility rate in 2024 is estimated to be 1.46 children per woman, which is well below the 2.1 children per woman needed to maintain population levels.

In the first six months of 2024, Russia's birth rate was the lowest it's been in 25 years. In June, the number of births fell below 100,000 for the first time

Russia's population is aging rapidly due to a number of factors, including low fertility and a high mortality rate

The natural population declined by 997,000 between October 2020 and September 2021 (the difference between the number of births and the number of deaths over a period). The natural death rate in January 2020, 2021, and 2022 have each been nearly double the natural birth rate.]

---

The USSR's labor issues were cultural and skill based not the shortage issue they have today. My comment was simply a problematic workforce.

---

Sound a lot like 2024 America.

TSMC officials claimed the plant they built in Arizona was having problems because the American workforce was too stupid and lazy to develop the technical expertise required to manufacture their semi-conductors.

---

You don't have to tell me. I've been saying it for some time that we can't do here what is done elsewhere from a manufacturing perspective. It's why outsourcing has occurred. To put it in perspective, China and India graduate well over 1 million engineers every year. The U.S. graduates around 100,000. And people wonder why we need to import skilled labor. There's a fundamental shift that has to occur in the American workforce for us to compete from America vs through America.

---

For once we agree.

Instead of wasting billions of dollars on failed proxy wars, use that money to increase the salaries of our top doctors, scientists, and engineers and incentivize young people into pursuing those careers.

---

It's not a compensation issue.

---

And your moment of clarity has passed... doctors, scientists, and engineers are underpaid for the value they bring to society. If you have never worked in STEM you dont know what you are talking about.

---

Look at Bar_Bearian. Always wanting Big Govt Big Handouts....so long as they are to him.

I know quite a few surgeons, doctors, engineers and other STEM oriented folks that get paid quite handsomely, with very little coming from government (outside of contractually obligated stuff from Medicaid/Medicare...which none of them want to deal with since they make less money off that) .

So once again, you just show your ass about small government. You don't want small government. You want big government that makes you the safe space. You want government that selects you and not all "those other people."

Sorry buddy. Keep banging away at the data entry that all the medical doctors do so you can get your paychecks like everyone else does.

---

Of course there are, but the majority are compensated either directly or indirectly by the government.

Over 50% of a typical hospital's patient volume are on Medicare.

NIH spends $50 billion on grants for medical research every year.

The biggest civil engineering firms and defense contractors work on government contracts.

Utility and Energy companies receive government subsidies.

I want a small government but I also want a sensible government.

I would be in favor of the government subsidizing the industrial sector to bring foundaries and steel mills to the US or spending money on GMP and GLP compliant manufacturing facilities and laboratories to resecure our drug supply chain.

The CHIPS act is a sensible idea, but going back to what ATL_Bear said, there is a gap between the supply curve and the demand curve when it comes to qualified workers with the technical abilities to run these facilities and typically we address this gap in a capitalist economy with wage growth and higher salaries.

America doesnt need any more lawyers or finance guys. We have a surplus.

---

You really have no idea what you're talking about. The simplest example is in 2 areas. First, countries with more socialized medicine (government involvement) have lower earnings for physicians, surgeons, specialists, etc. Second, healthcare payments and reimbursement rates are driven down by Medicare/Medicaid and hospitals, surgeons, physicians, etc. struggle for profitability unless they have a healthy private payer, private insurance revenue stream.

So not only is that giant healthcare subsidy/entitlement called Medicare crushing our Federal budget and imperiling our fiscal future, it's strangling the healthcare market, particularly rural hospitals and smaller facilities and practices, and driving up healthcare costs.

So tell me more about how we can F up the engineering market? Because you don't understand the issue. If you want to talk STEM, then just look at how small of a percentage of American students participate in it, and then take a second look at the demographics of those who do. Ironically it matches the global market for those same interests. That's a baseline of the fundamental issue.

And then there's heavy industry, which again is so hamstrung by regulations you can barely get the coal and scrap steel you need to even sniff those types of operations, much less discuss the mining dearth we've cast upon ourselves. And that's not even getting to the labor force that's not even interested in that type of thankless difficult work to participate at the levels other countries manage to execute. We have a supply and skill shortage at pretty much every level of the manufacturing segment, and to change that isn't to artificially inflate the costs or throw more government dollars at it. It's a reevaluation of labor and skill perspectives, as well as massive regulatory and environmental policy shifts.

But the real solution isn't what the wage complainers want, and that is technology, the biggest job killer since tools were invented.

---

I wrote a great reply to address all of your strawmans but I backed out of my post and my brilliance was lost to the ether.

So I will address the major relevant plot point - to compete with China and India, America must subsidize our industries and that includes our specialists and skilled tradesmen. The Chinese and Indian governments both subsidize their industries and that is why it is not economically viable for private industry in America to pursue them. They would take on billions in debt, immediately get cost cut, and go bankrupt within a few years.

These subsidies would pay for themselves by lowering costs and bringing down inflation.

Finally, you and Trey are in no position to lecture anyone on government waste when you both support the most wasteful, corrupt, least beneficial use of tax payer dollars - funding failed proxy wars that are not essential to our national security and offer zero ROI to the American tax payer.

---

Wait, are you actually saying subsidies are lowering costs??? If you think Uncle Sam with his magic subsidy wand fixes the issue, that couldn't be further from the truth. Just look at the scrap heap of ventures the government has destroyed through ineffective subsidy schemes. From the family farm, to Solyndra, to the domestic electronics market, and on and on. Subsidies kill competition and innovation, and game the marketplace, whether at a corporate or individual level. I mean at least with proxy wars you generate manufacturing and service jobs for the defense industry. It's one of the few industries we still actually have success domestically and abroad.

---

Shipping heavy metals and machinery from China or India takes a lot of time and costs a lot of money.

Time and money that could be saved by reindustrializing America.

These industries were all outsourced and sold off in the 80ties and 90ties so some jackoff vulture capitalists could make a quick buck at the expense of middle class American workers.

There is also the national security threat posed to your beloved defense industry being dependent on raw materials and parts from unfriendly nations.

China has strategically used government subsidies to kick our ass.

China now sucks $1 trillion, and growing, per year out of America.

Even India, a country that rather infamously struggles with urban sanitation, is able to out compete America.

China's new trade surplus record

India's largest trading partner is the US, and it is also one of the few countries with which India had a trade surplus in 2022-23

---

I keep telling you why we can't re-industrialize

---

Yes we can

We are the greatest super power on earth

Of course we can re-industrialize if we want

Stop making excuses

---

I'm not the one making excuses. Check the U.S. regulations on coal mining and smeltering and then look at China and tell me how we compete. And that's just one of dozens of examples.

---

A classic case of how tariffs on China could level the playing field for American workers and companies

---

Except the math or practicality doesn't work. Why do you need tariffs? Just do it and enter the market.

---

You don't think things like slave labor and ignoring environmental pollution give China a leg up on producing things?

You don't think certain specific tariffs should be imposed to level the playing field between American companies that follow the law (and morality) and the Chinese communists who don't?

---

Why don't you just "morally" choose to pay more for goods produced domestically?

---

I am happy to pay more for American made products.

But for millions of others the price is the main driver

Liberals and conservatives both know buying from China is helping a really evil State, being produced often times by slaves (or semi-slaves) , and is certainly not been done with the environmental constraints that Americans companies have to follow.

A tariff would even that disadvantage American workers have to labor under.

And make that moral choice much easier for American consumers

---

I don't think you understand how this works. Tariffs take away the choice because you make everything more expensive forcing Americans not to make a "moral choice", but a gamed market choice. And tariffs don't help wages domestically, nor should they. Carbon emission standards are the primary environmental advantage, something many of you gripe about, so I'm not sure why you wouldn't want to deregulate for competitive purposes.

Finally, China isn't a slave labor market. In fact labor arbitrage is no longer a real advantage with China due to all the other expenses required to produce and get to the U.S. and other key markets. They have unmatched production scale, labor skill, and labor mobility. But they are definitely a despotic state,

trey3216 said:

---

KaiBear said:

---

Biden approves the use of US missiles to strike deep into Russia. An unprecedented escalation by a lame duck president.

The stupid, dementia riddled ******* is determined to bring the US into WW3 as a glorified ' **** you ' to the American voters.

---

funny that you don't care about Iranian or Chinese drones, and Iranian ballistic missiles being used to strike apartment buildings in "non-Russian" Ukraine as Redbrick would call it. We're not pushing the launch buttons here.

---

Of course we are pushing the launch buttons.

Worse, a LAME DUCK president pulled this insane escalation after deciding against it forever.

Absolutely the most reckless and potentially destructive act in the history of US political transfer of power.

And 90% of the American people don't even have a clue.

Guarantee you most Europeans comprehend the risks.

ATL Bear said:

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Redbrickbear said:

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ATL Bear said:

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Redbrickbear said:

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ATL Bear said:

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Redbrickbear said:

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ATL Bear said:

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Redbrickbear said:

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ATL Bear said:

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The_barBEARian said:

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ATL Bear said:

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The_barBEARian said:

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ATL Bear said:

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The_barBEARian said:

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trey3216 said:

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The_barBEARian said:

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ATL Bear said:

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The_barBEARian said:

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ATL Bear said:

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The_barBEARian said:

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ATL Bear said:

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Redbrickbear said:

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ATL Bear said:

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Putin's Russia is getting closer to the Soviet economic dilemmas that crashed it. Defense spending outpacing social spending, rising deficits with increased borrowing costs, inflationary pressures, and a problematic labor force. An unintended weapon Trump will likely initiate is further energy deregulation resulting in lower oil and gas prices (that Russia is already discounting to avoid sanctions) which will put more and more pressure on Russian tax revenues, which are now becoming the primary funding source vs energy.

Meanwhile China is running a debt trap operation on them since the West is sanctioned from buying Russian debt.

---

I don't think the USSR had that particular problem:

"The crude birth rate in the Soviet Union in 1989 was 17.6 per 1,000 people. The average population of the USSR in 1989 was 286,731,000"

"The USSR had a Fertility rate of 2.3 in 1978-79"

They were doing ok-ish on the population stuff....there was a workforce to replace the elderly aging out.

But the modern Russian Federation certainly does have that problem:

[Russia's fertility rate in 2024 is estimated to be 1.46 children per woman, which is well below the 2.1 children per woman needed to maintain population levels.

In the first six months of 2024, Russia's birth rate was the lowest it's been in 25 years. In June, the number of births fell below 100,000 for the first time

Russia's population is aging rapidly due to a number of factors, including low fertility and a high mortality rate

The natural population declined by 997,000 between October 2020 and September 2021 (the difference between the number of births and the number of deaths over a period). The natural death rate in January 2020, 2021, and 2022 have each been nearly double the natural birth rate.]

---

The USSR's labor issues were cultural and skill based not the shortage issue they have today. My comment was simply a problematic workforce.

---

Sound a lot like 2024 America.

TSMC officials claimed the plant they built in Arizona was having problems because the American workforce was too stupid and lazy to develop the technical expertise required to manufacture their semi-conductors.

---

You don't have to tell me. I've been saying it for some time that we can't do here what is done elsewhere from a manufacturing perspective. It's why outsourcing has occurred. To put it in perspective, China and India graduate well over 1 million engineers every year. The U.S. graduates around 100,000. And people wonder why we need to import skilled labor. There's a fundamental shift that has to occur in the American workforce for us to compete from America vs through America.

---

For once we agree.

Instead of wasting billions of dollars on failed proxy wars, use that money to increase the salaries of our top doctors, scientists, and engineers and incentivize young people into pursuing those careers.

---

It's not a compensation issue.

---

And your moment of clarity has passed... doctors, scientists, and engineers are underpaid for the value they bring to society. If you have never worked in STEM you dont know what you are talking about.

---

Look at Bar_Bearian. Always wanting Big Govt Big Handouts....so long as they are to him.

I know quite a few surgeons, doctors, engineers and other STEM oriented folks that get paid quite handsomely, with very little coming from government (outside of contractually obligated stuff from Medicaid/Medicare...which none of them want to deal with since they make less money off that) .

So once again, you just show your ass about small government. You don't want small government. You want big government that makes you the safe space. You want government that selects you and not all "those other people."

Sorry buddy. Keep banging away at the data entry that all the medical doctors do so you can get your paychecks like everyone else does.

---

Of course there are, but the majority are compensated either directly or indirectly by the government.

Over 50% of a typical hospital's patient volume are on Medicare.

NIH spends $50 billion on grants for medical research every year.

The biggest civil engineering firms and defense contractors work on government contracts.

Utility and Energy companies receive government subsidies.

I want a small government but I also want a sensible government.

I would be in favor of the government subsidizing the industrial sector to bring foundaries and steel mills to the US or spending money on GMP and GLP compliant manufacturing facilities and laboratories to resecure our drug supply chain.

The CHIPS act is a sensible idea, but going back to what ATL_Bear said, there is a gap between the supply curve and the demand curve when it comes to qualified workers with the technical abilities to run these facilities and typically we address this gap in a capitalist economy with wage growth and higher salaries.

America doesnt need any more lawyers or finance guys. We have a surplus.

---

You really have no idea what you're talking about. The simplest example is in 2 areas. First, countries with more socialized medicine (government involvement) have lower earnings for physicians, surgeons, specialists, etc. Second, healthcare payments and reimbursement rates are driven down by Medicare/Medicaid and hospitals, surgeons, physicians, etc. struggle for profitability unless they have a healthy private payer, private insurance revenue stream.

So not only is that giant healthcare subsidy/entitlement called Medicare crushing our Federal budget and imperiling our fiscal future, it's strangling the healthcare market, particularly rural hospitals and smaller facilities and practices, and driving up healthcare costs.

So tell me more about how we can F up the engineering market? Because you don't understand the issue. If you want to talk STEM, then just look at how small of a percentage of American students participate in it, and then take a second look at the demographics of those who do. Ironically it matches the global market for those same interests. That's a baseline of the fundamental issue.

And then there's heavy industry, which again is so hamstrung by regulations you can barely get the coal and scrap steel you need to even sniff those types of operations, much less discuss the mining dearth we've cast upon ourselves. And that's not even getting to the labor force that's not even interested in that type of thankless difficult work to participate at the levels other countries manage to execute. We have a supply and skill shortage at pretty much every level of the manufacturing segment, and to change that isn't to artificially inflate the costs or throw more government dollars at it. It's a reevaluation of labor and skill perspectives, as well as massive regulatory and environmental policy shifts.

But the real solution isn't what the wage complainers want, and that is technology, the biggest job killer since tools were invented.

---

I wrote a great reply to address all of your strawmans but I backed out of my post and my brilliance was lost to the ether.

So I will address the major relevant plot point - to compete with China and India, America must subsidize our industries and that includes our specialists and skilled tradesmen. The Chinese and Indian governments both subsidize their industries and that is why it is not economically viable for private industry in America to pursue them. They would take on billions in debt, immediately get cost cut, and go bankrupt within a few years.

These subsidies would pay for themselves by lowering costs and bringing down inflation.

Finally, you and Trey are in no position to lecture anyone on government waste when you both support the most wasteful, corrupt, least beneficial use of tax payer dollars - funding failed proxy wars that are not essential to our national security and offer zero ROI to the American tax payer.

---

Wait, are you actually saying subsidies are lowering costs??? If you think Uncle Sam with his magic subsidy wand fixes the issue, that couldn't be further from the truth. Just look at the scrap heap of ventures the government has destroyed through ineffective subsidy schemes. From the family farm, to Solyndra, to the domestic electronics market, and on and on. Subsidies kill competition and innovation, and game the marketplace, whether at a corporate or individual level. I mean at least with proxy wars you generate manufacturing and service jobs for the defense industry. It's one of the few industries we still actually have success domestically and abroad.

---

Shipping heavy metals and machinery from China or India takes a lot of time and costs a lot of money.

Time and money that could be saved by reindustrializing America.

These industries were all outsourced and sold off in the 80ties and 90ties so some jackoff vulture capitalists could make a quick buck at the expense of middle class American workers.

There is also the national security threat posed to your beloved defense industry being dependent on raw materials and parts from unfriendly nations.

China has strategically used government subsidies to kick our ass.

China now sucks $1 trillion, and growing, per year out of America.

Even India, a country that rather infamously struggles with urban sanitation, is able to out compete America.

China's new trade surplus record

India's largest trading partner is the US, and it is also one of the few countries with which India had a trade surplus in 2022-23

---

I keep telling you why we can't re-industrialize

---

Yes we can

We are the greatest super power on earth

Of course we can re-industrialize if we want

Stop making excuses

---

I'm not the one making excuses. Check the U.S. regulations on coal mining and smeltering and then look at China and tell me how we compete. And that's just one of dozens of examples.

---

A classic case of how tariffs on China could level the playing field for American workers and companies

---

Except the math or practicality doesn't work. Why do you need tariffs? Just do it and enter the market.

---

You don't think things like slave labor and ignoring environmental pollution give China a leg up on producing things?

You don't think certain specific tariffs should be imposed to level the playing field between American companies that follow the law (and morality) and the Chinese communists who don't?

---

Why don't you just "morally" choose to pay more for goods produced domestically?

---

I am happy to pay more for American made products.

But for millions of others the price is the main driver

Liberals and conservatives both know buying from China is helping a really evil State, being produced often times by slaves (or semi-slaves) , and is certainly not been done with the environmental constraints that Americans companies have to follow.

A tariff would even that disadvantage American workers have to labor under.

And make that moral choice much easier for American consumers

---

I don't think you understand how this works. Tariffs take away the choice because you make everything more expensive,

---

No that would be a trade embargo…not a tariff

You would still be able to purchase Chinese polluted slave steel if you wanted

[Tariffs can be a fixed amount or a percentage of the price of the goods. They increase the price of imported goods, which can give domestic products a price advantage]

Just admit you want to throw open the makets of the USA to anyone.

While making American workers and companies compete with places like China.

While China gets to break every rule in the book

KaiBear said:

---

trey3216 said:

---

KaiBear said:

---

Biden approves the use of US missiles to strike deep into Russia. An unprecedented escalation by a lame duck president.

The stupid, dementia riddled ******* is determined to bring the US into WW3 as a glorified ' **** you ' to the American voters.

---

funny that you don't care about Iranian or Chinese drones, and Iranian ballistic missiles being used to strike apartment buildings in "non-Russian" Ukraine as Redbrick would call it. We're not pushing the launch buttons here.

---

Of course we are pushing the launch buttons.

Worse, a LAME DUCK president pulled this insane escalation after deciding against it forever.

Absolutely the most reckless and potentially destructive act in the history of US political transfer of power.

And 90% of the American people don't even have a clue.

Guarantee you most Europeans comprehend the risks.

---

It is quite shocking.

Not exactly the direct attack on peaceful transfer of power that we saw on Jan. 6, but still an unprecedented subversion of democratic tradition and practice. And if anything the stakes are even higher.

whiterock said:

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Redbrickbear said:

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whiterock said:

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Redbrickbear said:

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whiterock said:

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Redbrickbear said:

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Sam Lowry said:

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boognish_bear said:

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North Korean troops joining the conflict is the reason the US finally green lit Ukraine to strike at Russia with long-range missiles.

A U.S. official has called Kim’s decision a “costly mistake.”

Source: Washington Post. pic.twitter.com/x3k9PcRxjM

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) November 17, 2024

---

LOL

---

A few years down the road we will find out that no N. Korean troops were ever sent into Ukraine

But why spoil a good yarn cooked up in DC and spread by cat ladies in the State Department and at NPR…

What a lovely parting gift from Biden. He's blown past almost every escalation barrier in the past 2.5 years, after first playing the PR game where the administration acts like they're gravely conflicted. Firing missiles at **North Korean** troops is another dimension of disaster pic.twitter.com/MjVPdvkXKQ

— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) November 17, 2024

---

Technically, they are not in Ukraine now. They are in Russia, on the Kursk front. It's still a remarkable escalation.

Ignore Putin's threats…..

---

The moment never happens…until it does

---

Russia is not going to nuclear war over Ukraine. Is it really plausible that it would nuke a country it wants to occupy?

---

Probably not

But its a pretty crazy thing to escalate on....a worthless rusting out ex-soviet state that is highly corrupt and with a significant russian ethnic minority population right on the borders of Moscow.
Exactly. It was exceedingly unwise for Russia to invade a place like that. They could have for decades managed it as a weak, corrupt neutral state which vacillated hot & cold on Russia vs. Nato. Instead, they have galvanized Ukraine into the best army in Europe with a population who will fight Russia to the last man.

I'm sure no one thought a small conflict with tiny Serbia in the summer of 1914 would set the world on fire for decades....and lead to 2 different world wars and 70 million plus deaths and the collapse of an entire international order.
Another good point. Made complete sense that Austria would retaliate against Serbia over the assassination of the Archduke, but not much sense at all that Russia would declare war on a major European power on behalf of a very small country (Serbia) with which it had neither a common border not a treaty obligation. It was a serious miscalculation driven by ancient Russian ambitions to keep pressing toward a port on the Mediterranean, fortified by pan-Slavic romance. And it turned out very, very badly for Russia (particularly the Tsar).

Russia, you see has a bad habit of geopolitical miscalculation. Like, really bad miscalculations.

You and the genius liberals in DC are willing to risk a lot.....for very little in return.

---

They don't think they are entitled own or control everything in the world, just everything that touches them.

---

I guess that's the main difference between us and them.

historian said:

---

The fact that the Biden regime is trying to start WWIII right before Trump, who just won a historic landslide victory who ran on ending the Russia/Ukraine war, just shows how evil these POS treasonous traitors scumbags really are.

— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) November 17, 2024

---

Catturd misses on that one.

Biden and Trump met a couple of days ago. Do we think Ukraine was discussed? Did Trump comment on any of that about Ukraine? One could reasonably read between the lines that Trump wanted all the aid delivered so he would not have to spend his own political capital to get it done.....to give him time to work his own plan.

Trump is in a little bit of a bind here. He pandered to anti-war sentiment to get elected, knowing full well that abandoning Ukraine would be an unfathomably stupid thing to do. i don't blame him at all for the pander. Pandering is an essential part of politics and those who think they're too good to do it aren't worth the proverbial bucket of warm spit. But now he has to figure out a way to avoid doing what a really big and noisy chunk of his base wants him to do - cut & run from Ukraine. For sure he has a plan for how to walk the tightrope, and pushing all that aid into Ukraine before he takes over will give him some room to maneuver.

Keep your eye on the ball here:
Trump does not want Ukraine to become Afghanistan 2.0
Trump wants to win so much that America gets tired of winning.

China is ruled by a one party dictatorship, the CCP. Socialism is slavery. Anything bought from China is essentially using slave labor. The people there don't have freedom. Don'f forget Tiananmen Square 1989.

Germany starting to prepare for war in Europe.

NEW @thenatpulse: German Army Prepares Companies for Potential War.

The German armed forces, the Bundeswehr,......

READ ON:https://t.co/LLvsXj2S2Y

— Raheem. (@RaheemKassam) November 19, 2024

historian said:

---

China is ruled by a one party dictatorship, the CCP. Socialism is slavery. Anything bought from China is essentially using slave labor. The people there don't have freedom..

---

Exactly

Redbrickbear said:

---

sombear said:

---

Redbrickbear said:

---

sombear said:

---

Redbrickbear said:

---

trey3216 said:

---

KaiBear said:

---

Biden approves the use of US missiles to strike deep into Russia. An unprecedented escalation by a lame duck president.

The stupid, dementia riddled ******* is determined to bring the US into WW3 as a glorified ' **** you ' to the American voters.

---

funny that you don't care about Iranian or Chinese drones, and Iranian ballistic missiles being used to strike apartment buildings in "non-Russian" Ukraine as Redbrick would call it. We're not pushing the launch buttons here.

---

Yea

We should all just keep escalating

China-N.Korea-Iran sending weapons, drones, missiles

US-NATO doing the same

I sure this never ending conflict is going to work out well and totally not lead to a massive disaster at some point

---

We are always to blame

---

Who is "we"?

The DC policy blob is not America

And I doubt the insular Kremlin speaks for average Russians

I know the CCP commie bosses don't speak for all 1.3 billion Chinese

---

Of course. But you blame our governments over other far worse governments seemingly for everything.

---

"Seemingly for everything"

Massive exaggeration

But after 20+ years of foreign policy failure it's time to start questioning the powers that be in DC

---

20 years of failure? Last I checked, we still have the dominant economy and military; we have more and stronger allies; more people around the world are free; more people want freedom; more have rejected tyranny; we have mostly kept terrorism on our soil in check; our companies dominate most of the key industries and are more competitive overseas than ever before; we are producing more oil and gas than ever before; I could go on and on.

Russia has just approved a change in their nuclear weapon use policy.

The changes now consider the actions of the United States involving the Ukrainian use of US supplied long range missiles an act of war by the United States.

And such an act would justify the use of Russian nuclear weapons in retaliation.

Hopefully this does not occur. But if it doesn't it's ONLY because Putin realizes Trump will stop Biden's insanity in a few weeks.

whiterock said:

---

We are not at all like Russia. Completely different worldview. Completely different approach.

---

There's an excellent, well researched book titled "The Devil's Chessboard". I strongly recommend you download the audiobook and listen to it. Whiterock's protestations notwithstanding it will show you just how much his CIA buddies and other government-americans are cut from the same cloth as the worst of the third reich, and often collaborated with the Nazis.

It's a long book so I would get started so you can finish it before their blunders get us nuked.

Realitybites said:

---

whiterock said:

---

We are not at all like Russia. Completely different worldview. Completely different approach.

---

There's an excellent, well researched book titled "The Devil's Chessboard". I strongly recommend you download the audiobook and listen to it. Whiterock's protestations notwithstanding it will show you just how much his CIA buddies and other government-americans are cut from the same cloth as the worst of the third reich, and often collaborated with the Nazis.

It's a long book so I would get started so you can finish it before their blunders get us nuked.

---

Killing Hope is another good book on the topic.

whiterock said:

---

Germany starting to prepare for war in Europe.

NEW @thenatpulse: German Army Prepares Companies for Potential War.

The German armed forces, the Bundeswehr,......

READ ON:https://t.co/LLvsXj2S2Y

— Raheem. (@RaheemKassam) November 19, 2024

---

About 10 years too late.

They were already invaded and conquered in 2016 by a bunch of Arabs from Syria and Iraq who got displaced by Israel and the US

The_barBEARian said:

---

sombear said:

---

Redbrickbear said:

---

sombear said:

---

Redbrickbear said:

---

sombear said:

---

Redbrickbear said:

---

trey3216 said:

---

KaiBear said:

---

Biden approves the use of US missiles to strike deep into Russia. An unprecedented escalation by a lame duck president.

The stupid, dementia riddled ******* is determined to bring the US into WW3 as a glorified ' **** you ' to the American voters.

---

funny that you don't care about Iranian or Chinese drones, and Iranian ballistic missiles being used to strike apartment buildings in "non-Russian" Ukraine as Redbrick would call it. We're not pushing the launch buttons here.

---

Yea

We should all just keep escalating

China-N.Korea-Iran sending weapons, drones, missiles

US-NATO doing the same

I sure this never ending conflict is going to work out well and totally not lead to a massive disaster at some point

---

We are always to blame

---

Who is "we"?

The DC policy blob is not America

And I doubt the insular Kremlin speaks for average Russians

I know the CCP commie bosses don't speak for all 1.3 billion Chinese

---

Of course. But you blame our governments over other far worse governments seemingly for everything.

---

"Seemingly for everything"

Massive exaggeration

But after 20+ years of foreign policy failure it's time to start questioning the powers that be in DC

---

20 years of failure? Last I checked, we still have the dominant economy and military; we have more and stronger allies; more people around the world are free; more people want freedom; more have rejected tyranny; we have mostly kept terrorism on our soil in check; our companies dominate most of the key industries and are more competitive overseas than ever before; we are producing more oil and gas than ever before; I could go on and on.

---

We also have record level of debt to GDP

Record wealth gap between rich and poor.

Millennials are the first generation to be poorer than their parents.

Record levels of government spending on things that do little or absolutely nothing to benefit the people keep the system running.

I could go on and on... the USD had 5x the purchasing power 20 years ago that it has today

---

Median price for an American home is now getting close to half a million dollars

It will hit 1 million before we even realize it

[As of October 2024, the median sale price for a home in the United States is $420,400]

Not sure how young people are supposed to get a home and start a family under those kinds of economic conditions

Redbrickbear said:

---

The_barBEARian said:

---

sombear said:

---

Redbrickbear said:

---

sombear said:

---

Redbrickbear said:

---

sombear said:

---

Redbrickbear said:

---

trey3216 said:

---

KaiBear said:

---

Biden approves the use of US missiles to strike deep into Russia. An unprecedented escalation by a lame duck president.

The stupid, dementia riddled ******* is determined to bring the US into WW3 as a glorified ' **** you ' to the American voters.

---

funny that you don't care about Iranian or Chinese drones, and Iranian ballistic missiles being used to strike apartment buildings in "non-Russian" Ukraine as Redbrick would call it. We're not pushing the launch buttons here.

---

Yea

We should all just keep escalating

China-N.Korea-Iran sending weapons, drones, missiles

US-NATO doing the same

I sure this never ending conflict is going to work out well and totally not lead to a massive disaster at some point

---

We are always to blame

---

Who is "we"?

The DC policy blob is not America

And I doubt the insular Kremlin speaks for average Russians

I know the CCP commie bosses don't speak for all 1.3 billion Chinese

---

Of course. But you blame our governments over other far worse governments seemingly for everything.

---

"Seemingly for everything"

Massive exaggeration

But after 20+ years of foreign policy failure it's time to start questioning the powers that be in DC

---

20 years of failure? Last I checked, we still have the dominant economy and military; we have more and stronger allies; more people around the world are free; more people want freedom; more have rejected tyranny; we have mostly kept terrorism on our soil in check; our companies dominate most of the key industries and are more competitive overseas than ever before; we are producing more oil and gas than ever before; I could go on and on.

---

We also have record level of debt to GDP

Record wealth gap between rich and poor.

Millennials are the first generation to be poorer than their parents.

Record levels of government spending on things that do little or absolutely nothing to benefit the people keep the system running.

I could go on and on... the USD had 5x the purchasing power 20 years ago that it has today

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Median price for an American home is now getting close to half a million dollars

It will hit 1 million before we even realize it

[As of October 2024, the median sale price for a home in the United States is $420,400]

Not sure how young people are supposed to get a home and start a family under those kinds of economic conditions

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Hey its all rainbows and butterflies according to Boomers and Gen Xers on this board.

The_barBEARian said:

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Hey its all rainbows and butterflies according to Boomers and Gen Xers on this board.

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Trump's win was due to winning Gen Xers...

It absolutely isnt rainbows and butterflies.

The leftist uniparty's power is based on Boomers, Millenials, and Gen Z.

Realitybites said:

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The_barBEARian said:

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Hey its all rainbows and butterflies according to Boomers and Gen Xers on this board.

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Trump's win was due to winning Gen Xers...

It absolutely isnt rainbows and butterflies.

The leftist uniparty's power is based on Boomers, Millenials, and Gen Z.

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Its based on College educated progressive Whites in coastal areas and certain metro areas in the rest of the Union

And counties in the South that have a majority black population.

I don't think generation is as important....its education, location, and less so under Trump is also ethnic background

KaiBear said:

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Russia has just approved a change in their nuclear weapon use policy.

The changes now consider the actions of the United States involving the Ukrainian use of US supplied long range missiles an act of war by the United States.

And such an act would justify the use of Russian nuclear weapons in retaliation.

Hopefully this does not occur. But if it doesn't it's ONLY because Putin realizes Trump will stop Biden's insanity in a few weeks.

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Adding up the estimated number of dead and the seriously injured, Meduza estimated that Russia's military had suffered a total of 405,000 irreplaceable losses by late October. Using a similar method, Olga Ivshina of the BBC estimated 484,000 irreplaceable Russian losses in the same period.

Assessing military intelligence
The military intelligence agencies of Ukraine and many NATO nations produce their own estimates of Russian casualties. They all claim that Russia has lost 600,000 to 700,000 in dead and wounded soldiers as of October.

Osodecentx said:

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KaiBear said:

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Russia has just approved a change in their nuclear weapon use policy.

The changes now consider the actions of the United States involving the Ukrainian use of US supplied long range missiles an act of war by the United States.

And such an act would justify the use of Russian nuclear weapons in retaliation.

Hopefully this does not occur. But if it doesn't it's ONLY because Putin realizes Trump will stop Biden's insanity in a few weeks.

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Adding up the estimated number of dead and the seriously injured, Meduza estimated that Russia's military had suffered a total of 405,000 irreplaceable losses by late October. Using a similar method, Olga Ivshina of the BBC estimated 484,000 irreplaceable Russian losses in the same period.

Assessing military intelligence
The military intelligence agencies of Ukraine and many NATO nations produce their own estimates of Russian casualties. They all claim that Russia has lost 600,000 to 700,000 in dead and wounded soldiers as of October.

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Those numbers don't mean different things to be honest. Irreplaceable losses are completely different than the sum of dead and wounded (which will always be greater than 'irreplaceable')

Sam Lowry said:

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sombear said:

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Redbrickbear said:

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sombear said:

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Redbrickbear said:

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sombear said:

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Redbrickbear said:

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trey3216 said:

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KaiBear said:

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Biden approves the use of US missiles to strike deep into Russia. An unprecedented escalation by a lame duck president.

The stupid, dementia riddled ******* is determined to bring the US into WW3 as a glorified ' **** you ' to the American voters.

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funny that you don't care about Iranian or Chinese drones, and Iranian ballistic missiles being used to strike apartment buildings in "non-Russian" Ukraine as Redbrick would call it. We're not pushing the launch buttons here.

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Yea

We should all just keep escalating

China-N.Korea-Iran sending weapons, drones, missiles

US-NATO doing the same

I sure this never ending conflict is going to work out well and totally not lead to a massive disaster at some point

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We are always to blame

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Who is "we"?

The DC policy blob is not America

And I doubt the insular Kremlin speaks for average Russians

I know the CCP commie bosses don't speak for all 1.3 billion Chinese

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Of course. But you blame our governments over other far worse governments seemingly for everything.

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"Seemingly for everything"

Massive exaggeration

But after 20+ years of foreign policy failure it's time to start questioning the powers that be in DC

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20 years of failure? Last I checked, we still have the dominant economy and military; we have more and stronger allies; more people around the world are free; more people want freedom; more have rejected tyranny; we have mostly kept terrorism on our soil in check; our companies dominate most of the key industries and are more competitive overseas than ever before; we are producing more oil and gas than ever before; I could go on and on.

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We're a fentanyl addict with nukes.

The world sees us and is trying to cross to the other side of the street without looking like it's in a hurry.

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That reads like a Putin quote! Well done. Thrown in racism, and you just covered half his quarterly speeches.

The_barBEARian said:

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sombear said:

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Redbrickbear said:

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sombear said:

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Redbrickbear said:

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sombear said:

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Redbrickbear said:

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trey3216 said:

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KaiBear said:

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Biden approves the use of US missiles to strike deep into Russia. An unprecedented escalation by a lame duck president.

The stupid, dementia riddled ******* is determined to bring the US into WW3 as a glorified ' **** you ' to the American voters.

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funny that you don't care about Iranian or Chinese drones, and Iranian ballistic missiles being used to strike apartment buildings in "non-Russian" Ukraine as Redbrick would call it. We're not pushing the launch buttons here.

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Yea

We should all just keep escalating

China-N.Korea-Iran sending weapons, drones, missiles

US-NATO doing the same

I sure this never ending conflict is going to work out well and totally not lead to a massive disaster at some point

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We are always to blame

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Who is "we"?

The DC policy blob is not America

And I doubt the insular Kremlin speaks for average Russians

I know the CCP commie bosses don't speak for all 1.3 billion Chinese

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Of course. But you blame our governments over other far worse governments seemingly for everything.

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"Seemingly for everything"

Massive exaggeration

But after 20+ years of foreign policy failure it's time to start questioning the powers that be in DC

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20 years of failure? Last I checked, we still have the dominant economy and military; we have more and stronger allies; more people around the world are free; more people want freedom; more have rejected tyranny; we have mostly kept terrorism on our soil in check; our companies dominate most of the key industries and are more competitive overseas than ever before; we are producing more oil and gas than ever before; I could go on and on.

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We also have record level of debt to GDP

Record wealth gap between rich and poor.

Millennials are the first generation to be poorer than their parents.

Record levels of government spending on things that do little or absolutely nothing to benefit the people keep the system running.

I could go on and on... the USD had 5x the purchasing power 20 years ago that it has today

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How much of this is due to "foreign policy?"