Country in the toilet and Goober Graham’s focus on NIL…

#27
#27
Read somewhere the Trump administration is responsible for nearly a quarter of the debt. What a disaster.
 
#33
#33
GoVols15 said:
Actually I meant the response for ukvols, not you, but I was referring to Article I of the Constitution. The branch that has the power of the purse. Sorry!
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The debt ceiling is about paying debts that the USA has already accrued. The choices are to 1) raise the ceiling, 2) eliminate the ceiling, or 3) intentionally destroy the US economy. The only negotiating leverage the GOP has is their apparent willingness to intentionally destroy the US economy and Biden’s apparent willingness to believe them.

If we had a strong POTUS, he would hold a daily presser to remind the public that the GOP is apparently willing to destroy everything voters have worked for. We are the ONLY country that occasionally risks blowing itself up by bumping into an arbitrary ceiling, and the only reason we still have this ceiling is so the GOP can take hostages whenever we hit the ceiling while a Dem is in the White House while the GOP has the votes to blow us up. If the GOP had the White House, they wouldn’t be taking hostages.

These actions by the GOP are indefensible and unforgivable. It is utterly asinine to support their decision to threaten to destroy all of us.
 
#35
#35
ukvols said:
The debt ceiling is about paying debts that the USA has already accrued. The choices are to 1) raise the ceiling, 2) eliminate the ceiling, or 3) intentionally destroy the US economy. The only negotiating leverage the GOP has is their apparent willingness to intentionally destroy the US economy and Biden’s apparent willingness to believe them.

If we had a strong POTUS, he would hold a daily presser to remind the public that the GOP is apparently willing to destroy everything voters have worked for. We are the ONLY country that occasionally risks blowing itself up by bumping into an arbitrary ceiling, and the only reason we still have this ceiling is so the GOP can take hostages whenever we hit the ceiling while a Dem is in the White House while the GOP has the votes to blow us up. If the GOP had the White House, they wouldn’t be taking hostages.

These actions by the GOP are indefensible and unforgivable. It is utterly asinine to support their decision to threaten to destroy all of us.
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Umm, another option would be for Biden and the dems to agree on spending cuts.
 
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#37
#37
EasternVol said:
We'd have been better prepared but the pandemic would still have hammered the budget.
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Our response to the pandemic is what hammered the budget and do you really believe we would have been better prepared had they not been disbanded?
 
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#38
#38
hog88 said:
Our response to the pandemic is what hammered the budget and do you really believe we would have been better prepared had they not been disbanded?
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Of course it was the response. I would hope we'd have been better prepared. We were going in a hundred different directions and made some really bad decisions on the state level with poor leadership on the federal level.
 
#39
#39
EasternVol said:
Of course it was the response. I would hope we'd have been better prepared. We were going in a hundred different directions and made some really bad decisions on the state level with poor leadership on the federal level.
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I can’t believe a collection of bureaucrats on a committee would have helped us be better prepared.
 
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#40
#40
EasternVol said:
We'd have been better prepared but the pandemic would still have hammered the budget.
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We don't really know how things would have been different so that's just pure speculation. Trump gave his rich buddies tax breaks and paid for it by cutting programs such as this that he deemed unimportant. He is a terrible person.
 
#41
#41
hog88 said:
Umm, another option would be for Biden and the dems to agree on spending cuts.
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Again, if the ceiling is not raised or eliminated, the US economy will be destroyed. This is not the time for a budget negotiation. The GOP is willing to destroy you economically if Biden and the Dems don’t cave. If they do cave, the GOP will only agree to temporarily not destroy the US economy so that they can retain the option to take us all hostages again in the future. And your response is to expect Biden and the Dems to cave.

A strong POTUS would call their bluff. There is no way that the big money donors of both parties are going to sit back and watch their financial portfolios get sacked. The GOP donors will order the GOP to release the hostages if Biden calls the GOP’s bluff and sticks to it.
 
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#42
#42
EasternVol said:
I hope you've got the latest super deluxe extra efficient tin and lead foil hat.
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I understand. I mocked* conspiracy thinking most of my life, being too smart and too educated to indulge such foolishness. "The barroom prattles of the proletariat, and a strawman on which the most susceptible in society can blame their poor circumstances," was pretty much my easy dismissal.

But something's been up since the mid-'90s, too much so for me to dismiss. Too many big, publicly transparent decisions were being made against all logic, efficiency, or accountability. Too many economic "bubbles" with strings attached--before and after. Too much federal money disappearing. Too many hard facts to dismiss to widespread petty corruption.

The big surprise was that so many conspiratorialists today come from--not from the narrow-minded and simple--but from people with more degrees than I have, who've had high-responsibility careers in the federal gov't and Wall Street.

So, yeah, I guess I am one of those now. But if the search for truth also brings me into such distinguished company, I won't complain. And I keep my skeptical friends close, to make sure I don't get duped. I don't want an "identity." I just want to understand the bigger picture--on earth as well as theologically.

*So if you decide to upgrade, instead of foil hats we just put our surveillance devices (phones) in a Faraday bag when in transit. ;-)
GBO!
 
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#43
#43
hog88 said:
Umm, another option would be for Biden and the dems to agree on spending cuts.
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Maybe they would if you scum bags didn't want to cut VA healthcare, Medicare, and SS. ****ing scum of the earth. Make the rich richer and make the middle-lower class pay for it.
 
#44
#44
BruisedOrange said:
I understand. I mocked* conspiracy thinking most of my life, being too smart and too educated to indulge such foolishness. "The barroom prattles of the proletariat, and a strawman on which the most susceptible in society can blame their poor circumstances," was pretty much my easy dismissal.

But something's been up since the mid-'90s, too much so for me to dismiss. Too many big, publicly transparent decisions were being made against all logic, efficiency, or accountability. Too many economic "bubbles" with strings attached--before and after. Too much federal money disappearing. Too many hard facts to dismiss to widespread petty corruption.

The big surprise was that so many conspiratorialists today come from--not from the narrow-minded and simple--but from people with more degrees than I have, who've had high-responsibility careers in the federal gov't and Wall Street.

So, yeah, I guess I am one of those now. But if the search for truth also brings me into such distinguished company, I won't complain. And I keep my skeptical friends close, to make sure I don't get duped. I don't want an "identity." I just want to understand the bigger picture--on earth as well as theologically.

*So if you decide to upgrade, instead of foil hats we just put our surveillance devices (phones) in a Faraday bag when in transit. ;-)
GBO!
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There's a lot of truth to that. People will do very nefarious things to maintain and increase their power and wealth. Our government leadership is far too often bought and paid. But I don't think the WHO is the source of the problem.
GBO!
 
#45
#45
ukvols said:
The debt ceiling is about paying debts that the USA has already accrued. The choices are to 1) raise the ceiling, 2) eliminate the ceiling, or 3) intentionally destroy the US economy. The only negotiating leverage the GOP has is their apparent willingness to intentionally destroy the US economy and Biden’s apparent willingness to believe them.

If we had a strong POTUS, he would hold a daily presser to remind the public that the GOP is apparently willing to destroy everything voters have worked for. We are the ONLY country that occasionally risks blowing itself up by bumping into an arbitrary ceiling, and the only reason we still have this ceiling is so the GOP can take hostages whenever we hit the ceiling while a Dem is in the White House while the GOP has the votes to blow us up. If the GOP had the White House, they wouldn’t be taking hostages.

These actions by the GOP are indefensible and unforgivable. It is utterly asinine to support their decision to threaten to destroy all of us.
Click to expand...
Apparently you are afraid to read the Constitution! Sad but your ignorance is bliss. Sorry I don't argue with a fool as a wise man once said. Have a good day!
 
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#46
#46
K-town Vol Fan said:
We don't really know how things would have been different so that's just pure speculation. Trump gave his rich buddies tax breaks and paid for it by cutting programs such as this that he deemed unimportant. He is a terrible person.
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The point is that we'd have incurred massive budget strains due to the pandemic with or without that team in place.
Yes Trump is a terrible person, completely self absorbed, apparently insane, and as amoral of a public figure as I can recall. Unfortunately for us his successor has different but just as serious, or worse, flaws.
What has Biden done to offset Trump's tax cuts to the rich?
 
#47
#47
GoVols15 said:
Apparently you are afraid to read the Constitution! Sad but your ignorance is bliss. Sorry I don't argue with a fool as a wise man once said. Have a good day!
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The GOP is willing to destroy everything you have worked for if the Dems don’t cave, and your response is to explain that they have the constitutional power to hold you hostage.

I hope our elected officials appreciate your willingness to make such a sacrifice for the good of the party.
 
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#48
#48
EasternVol said:
There's a lot of truth to that. People will do very nefarious things to maintain and increase their power and wealth. Our government leadership is far too often bought and paid. But I don't think the WHO is the source of the problem.
GBO!
Click to expand...
Maybe the biggest challenge we all face is finding trustworthy voices... people who do deep research with both intellectual and personal integrity. I've pretty much had to follow people for years, vetting their record over time with how they handled a variety of "stories" or issues, watching for when and why they miss when they do. And it's often over a year before we have enough damning fact or exculpable evidence to make a judgement on their work.

A few months ago, I watched the 1976 movie "Network" again. Back when it came out it was a satire, based on the premise "what if the broadcast networks decided to include their news division in the network budget?" [note to youngsters: back when we had 3 major networks, the news division in each always lost money, but presenting the national news was deemed a public service and appropriate reciprocation for use of the public airwaves (before cable), and by practice its fiscal losses were not counted against the networks' budgets]

Though it was brilliantly written, it's no longer a satire, and too true today to be a comedy. Back in the day, I disagreed with Chayefsky on most everything, but Paddy proved to be a prophet.

For everyone's entertainment (and maybe a DMZ within which Left and Right can find common ground to push back against the corrupting power of global corporations--whether they be Big Pharma, Big Ag, Big Green, or Eisenhower's military-industrial complex):
 
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#50
#50
EasternVol said:
The point is that we'd have incurred massive budget strains due to the pandemic with or without that team in place.
Yes Trump is a terrible person, completely self absorbed, apparently insane, and as amoral of a public figure as I can recall. Unfortunately for us his successor has different but just as serious, or worse, flaws.
What has Biden done to offset Trump's tax cuts to the rich?
Click to expand...

Please pardon my interruption, but I cannot agree that Biden’s flaws are worse, given that Trump tried to destroy American democracy just to keep himself in power. If the losing party ever has its people in the right positions of power in the right states to overturn an election over nothing but lies, conspiracy theories, and partisanship and chooses to go through with it, there will be no more USA, because we’d be replacing elections with administrative power grabs.
I’m sorry for butting in. I just cannot take Trump or any of his 2024 voters seriously, given that he continues to lie about the election with complete disregard for the damage he’s caused (which includes the death of the woman who was shot at the Capitol). The extreme seriousness of a sitting POTUS denying his election results while producing no evidence cannot be stated often enough. It’s mind-blowing that people still consider handing the keys to the free world back to Trump.
 
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