War in Ukraine

#38,502
#38,502
Vol737 said:
Your comparison doesn’t make a lot of sense. We are currently borrowing money to pay the interest on the debt. IOW…we are using credit cards to pay for other credit cards. Taking out enormous amounts of debt or the bank allowing you to have a jumbo mortgage does not automatically equal a higher standard of living. The financial crisis bore that out. Since you asked, been in my home 21 years, own it outright and my monthly mortgage was never more than 20% of my monthly income. Been debt free for a long time and pay the credit card off every month. So, living within your means is clearly not hypocrisy for many of us who expect the govt to do the same. And by any measure and many economic analysts, yes, the debt has reached a dangerous debt/gdp ratio.
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Debt is good. It does allow us all to have a higher standard of living. Of this I'm 100% certain.

I get your reasoning, but with all due respect, I'm not sure you know all the nuances related to the dollar, debt and whom, ultimately, holds our debt. For example, when an American entity holds our fed debt, the concepts of gross and net benefits derived from the issuance of debt muddy. Plus there are complicated relationships between trade imbalances,, foreign currencies (e.g. the Chinese Yuan) and our debt. In order to avoid weakening their currency, for example, China buys our treasury bonds. They want and *need* to do so.

It's complicated. Way above my pay grade.

There's a reason economics is called the Dismal Science.
 
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#38,505
#38,505
MontyPython said:
Debt is good. It does allow us all to have a higher standard of living. Of this I'm 100% certain.

I get your reasoning, but with all due respect, I'm not sure you know all the nuances related to the dollar, debt and whom, ultimately, holds our debt. For example, when an American entity holds our fed debt, the concepts of gross and net benefits derived from the issuance of debt muddy. Plus there are complicated relationships between trade imbalances,, foreign currencies (e.g. the Chinese Yuan) and our debt. In order to avoid weakening their currency, for example, China buys our treasury bonds. They want and *need* to do so.

It's complicated. Way above my pay grade.

There's a reason economics is called the Dismal Science.
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Oh, I understand why China et al want to hold our debt. In business, debt can be leverage. But I don’t see $31.5T as good debt at this point. I see this level of debt as being THE big driver of inflation and not sure people realize it yet. Time will tell.
 
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#38,507
#38,507
Vol737 said:
Oh, I understand why China et al want to hold our debt. In business, debt can be leverage. But I don’t see $31.5T as good debt at this point. I see this level of debt as being THE big driver of inflation and not sure people realize it yet. Time will tell.
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I'm not an economist so you may have to explain it to me. If the debt is driving inflation why was inflation at record lows during Trump's four years while deficit spending and the debt were at record highs?
 
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#38,509
#38,509
#38,514
#38,514
NorthDallas40 said:
Careful you’ll make him cry if you attack one of his heroes.
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I'll stand by it. I've intentionally antangonized lots of people about lots of things on here. A russophile who wants to argue that a politician is inherently honest because the politician is a "skilled diplomat" is the least of my worries.
 
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#38,517
#38,517
clarksvol00 said:
That equates to honesty?
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Honesty plays a huge role in diplomacy. If the other side of the table doesn't think you are trustworthy, then diplomacy cannot work.

I know this is a foreign concept to most of us Americans considering that our diplomats hide behind legalese, technicalities, loopholes or just out right lying.
 
#38,518
#38,518
Rasputin_Vol said:
Well first off, Lavrov is no idiot. He has shown for the last decade that he is one of the most skilled diplomats on the planet. Second, if Russia has a real desire to regime change Ukraine or take out 3elensky, they could have done it on Day 1.
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What? Russia could have taken out Ukraine's leadership on day one but they didn't want to. Now almost six months in they have decided they want to but they are bogged down and can't. Do you ever read your own posts?
 
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#38,519
#38,519
Rasputin_Vol said:
Honesty plays a huge role in diplomacy. If the other side of the table doesn't think you are trustworthy, then diplomacy cannot work.

I know this is a foreign concept to most of us Americans considering that our diplomats hide behind legalese, technicalities, loopholes or just out right lying.
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From a guy that defends the guy that used “special military operation”.
 
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#38,520
#38,520
Rasputin_Vol said:
Honesty plays a huge role in diplomacy. If the other side of the table doesn't think you are trustworthy, then diplomacy cannot work.

I know this is a foreign concept to most of us Americans considering that our diplomats hide behind legalese, technicalities, loopholes or just out right lying.
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I'll take your word that Lavrov is an honest politician and other politicians who deal with him agree.
 
#38,521
#38,521
Rasputin_Vol said:
Well first off, Lavrov is no idiot. He has shown for the last decade that he is one of the most skilled diplomats on the planet. Second, if Russia has a real desire to regime change Ukraine or take out 3elensky, they could have done it on Day 1.
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You keeping giving Russia WAY too much credit for what they're capable of. They're a two bit gas station with nukes.

Putin isn't the cunning genius you want to believe he is, he's a sociopathic dictator surrounded by 'yes' men.

"Could have done it on day one"? LOL, didn't they lose like almost their whole airborne on day one?

They're idiots.
 
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#38,523
#38,523
Septic said:
You keeping giving Russia WAY too much credit for what they're capable of. They're a two bit gas station with nukes.

Putin isn't the cunning genius you want to believe he is, he's a sociopathic dictator surrounded by 'yes' men.

"Could have done it on day one"? LOL, didn't they lose like almost their whole airborne on day one?

They're idiots.
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And yet, they are advancing day by day. They are just falling forward I guess.
 
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