Quote (Plaguefear @ 13 Nov 2019 08:42)

Always laugh at people wondering how to afford democratic socialism in the richest country on earth when you had no problem going twenty trillion in debt bombing caves in afganistan with nothing to show for it.
No one asks where bomb money comes from, or corporate subsidy money, but if its for the benefit of the masses suddenly you guys are broke.
Get your priorities straight, if you are complaining about socialist policies when your country has spent 20 trillion on nothing you are insane.

Quote (Plaguefear @ 13 Nov 2019 08:42)

Always laugh at people wondering how to afford democratic socialism in the richest country on earth when you had no problem going twenty trillion in debt bombing caves in afganistan with nothing to show for it.
[...]
Get your priorities straight, if you are complaining about socialist policies when your country has spent 20 trillion on nothing you are insane.

Quote

No one asks where bomb money comes from, or corporate subsidy money, but if its for the benefit of the masses suddenly you guys are broke.

Quote (Black XistenZ @ Nov 13 2019 08:04pm)

Those 20 trillion in national debt were amassed breaking through the economic crisis of the 70s, bringing the Soviet Union to its knees by forcing them into a ruinous arms race, funding the largest boom of the last century during the Clinton years, and overcoming the Great Recession.

The big offenders are Bush's Iraq War and Trump's tax cuts, but other than that, the deficit was ballooned with a purpose. Pretending like all those 20 trillion came from bombing caves in Afghanistan is a gross misrepresentation.

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This part

is very true though. -_-

One thing to keep in mind, however: the military budget and corporate subsidies could be phased out very quickly if the deficit one day becomes hard to sustain.
Entitlement programs like medicare, medicaid or medicare4all cant. Social programs like these create long-lasting spending commitments, so it is only fair to give a long and thorough look before implementing such programs.

Quote (Plaguefear @ 13 Nov 2019 11:03)

Imagine if that 20 trillion was spent building infrastructure and giving greater opportunities to the lower class, no one would care about russia and it is possible there may not even have been a recession.

Quote (Black XistenZ @ Nov 13 2019 09:10pm)

I think it's really hard to quantify the economic value that the collapse of the Soviet Union had for the rest of the world.

Where things really and unequivocally started going downhill was the Iraq war, and then the bank bailouts during the Great Recession. Those are, incidentally, also the periods during which the debt really surged.

Quote (Plaguefear @ Nov 13 2019 05:21am)

As i said, pointless wars are not even worth questioning, trying to get healthcare that would give your economy a jump start is impossible because no one knows where to find the money.
Believe it or not having shit health costs is a drag on the economy like a massive anchor.

Quote (Ghot @ 13 Nov 2019 13:32)

IF you are talking about govt. subsidized healthcare... it will NOT "give our economy a jump start". It will actually increase our deficit.
The US HAS to spend on the military, for the 100th time. The lack of the "threat" of the US military would leave the US and most of the first world countries, ripe for the picking.

By way of example, Australia would be speaking Chinese if there was no threat of US intervention. The EU would probably be speaking Russian or Arabic, and the US would be pretty much gone.

I sincerely hope you're not naive enough to believe that the rest of the world would be able to maintain it's "status quo" with out the threat of the US military.



We'd all love free healthcare, and free education. I hope you seriously don't think there is even one person in the US that wouldn't. But, as with anything, it has to be paid for.

Quote (Ghot @ Nov 13 2019 06:32am)

IF you are talking about govt. subsidized healthcare... it will NOT "give our economy a jump start". It will actually increase our deficit.
The US HAS to spend on the military, for the 100th time. The lack of the "threat" of the US military would leave the US and most of the first world countries, ripe for the picking.

By way of example, Australia would be speaking Chinese if there was no threat of US intervention. The EU would probably be speaking Russian or Arabic, and the US would be pretty much gone.

I sincerely hope you're not naive enough to believe that the rest of the world would be able to maintain it's "status quo" with out the threat of the US military.



We'd all love free healthcare, and free education. I hope you seriously don't think there is even one person in the US that wouldn't. But, as with anything, it has to be paid for.

Quote (Black XistenZ @ Nov 13 2019 07:58am)

All of this security would still exist if the US spent "only" $300 billion per year on its military instead of the current $693 billion.

Quote (Ghot @ 13 Nov 2019 14:06)

In this, I think I'll trust the generals (who are technically on a fixed income) to know how many little plastic pieces they need on the giant RISK board, we are all playing on.