POLITICAL THREAD

[fuzz77]

Fair question and I'll answer it with a question: how many people are you willing to let die to find out?

Enjoy building straw men?
I think you first must prove that there is a threat that some foreign army is going to land on our shores. How many British, French, Japanese, Germans have died because they don't have the world's largest army?
Facts are that a military isn't an effective defense against ideology.

I know that there have been 1000's of US servicemen die because they have been deployed for unsound reasons.

Fact is that if the military was cut in half it would still be the strongest in the world. If we cut our military budget in half, something NOBODY has suggested, we would still be outspending China and Russia combined. Add the fact that we have the ability to defeat any other military with a "flip of a switch". Look at the chart below. 8 of the next 10 largest military are our allies. So who is that great boogyman you fear?

 

[ram1955]

IMO:
1 Freeze Fed spending at level of spending for current fiscal year....INDEFINITELY...until all debts are paid;

2. Determine the amount of additional revenue necessary to enable the country to meet it's commitments... i.e. Social Security, national debt;
3 Implement a flat tax plan....no deductions for anyone..for anything... with taxes at a level necessary to meet obligations (see #2) and maintain that level of taxation as long as necessary to pay off debts
4 Restructure Social Security and other similar programs so that they are self sustaining;

 

[anon_l8pbkn96tg3j6]

I am no champion of military spending, but "we spend more, so we're good" is a horrible argument. The amount of bureaucracy involved in the defense spending process is disturbing. . . not just with defense contractors, but the military bureaucracy, and government bureaucracy as well. It might be the least efficient process in existence. It would not surprise me at all if the Chinese or Russians have a comparable arsenal with less money. I don't know what the answer is, but it sure as hell isn't more spending.

 

[warrior-cat]

Who is calling for tax hikes? (although I think that taxes should be set at whatever level covers spending...you want spending hikes, gotta either increase taxes or decrease spending somewhere else...tax cuts wouldn't be able to go into effect until a surplus existed in tax revenues)

I don't think they should focus only on the military...the problem is that the same folks pushing tax cuts are also pushing spending MORE on the military without saying from where the money will come to pay for the spending. Rand Paul appears to be the only GOP candidate with the balls to call them out on their hypocrisy.

Many on the left have called for hikes of one form or another. No, tax hikes should not be set to cover current debt. Reel in spending to where we could save money. How would you do it in your household? You would cut those least important bills you could do without right now. There are many places we could stop spending and should immediately.

 

[warrior-cat]

The problem with defense spending is we are still wasting money on cold war weapons that have little or no value. The one Trillion dollar F-35 "Flying White Elephant" is a classic example. There are many more. Some weapons systems the Pentagon doesn't even want but they were pushed on them by politicians that have their buttons pushed by defense contractors in their states/districts.

Here is where I have something good to say about Donald Trump. He is the only politician from either party that has pointed out how we get ripped off by everyone. Why should the US be maintaining military installations for NATO at the cost of Billions a year, to protect Europe from ???? Billions of dollars for what? Why 60 years after the Korean war ended does this country have to pay for 30,000 troops in south Korea? South Korea has become a modern industrialized nation - why can't they pay for their own defense needs? Trump at least points this out.

It's nothing short of criminal to be spending tax payers money in such a reckless and foolish fashion on other countries issues while our own infrastructure is crumbling.

If you go through all the waste, and all the expenses we have paying for weapons we don't need and will never use, and other countries defenses that they could damn well pay for themselves we could have a great Department of Defense to fully serve our needs in the 21st Century for half or less what we are paying or should I say wasting right now.

I can agree with most of this but, let's make sure when we cut that we do not cut personnel or the equipment they need. I have countless times on here said that we can save money in the military by simply cutting the cost of what we spend on parts and over spend on equipment. We need our weapons but, we need to be smart about how the money is spent. Also, pull out of every country that does not want us there and go in only if they pay us to be there. Also, with the extra man power back here, train them to guard out borders because they are already being paid. No need to build the wall with a lot more man power that we are already paying for.

 

[warrior-cat]

Enjoy building straw men?
I think you first must prove that there is a threat that some foreign army is going to land on our shores. How many British, French, Japanese, Germans have died because they don't have the world's largest army?
Facts are that a military isn't an effective defense against ideology.

I know that there have been 1000's of US servicemen die because they have been deployed for unsound reasons.

Fact is that if the military was cut in half it would still be the strongest in the world. If we cut our military budget in half, something NOBODY has suggested, we would still be outspending China and Russia combined. Add the fact that we have the ability to defeat any other military with a "flip of a switch". Look at the chart below. 8 of the next 10 largest military are our allies. So who is that great boogyman you fear?

No, you do not know why our spending is so big. There is a lot more to it than you understand I assure you. We do not need to cut troop or equipment strength. I guarantee that big money could be saved just by doing what I suggested earlier. No way do we need to cut the military in half. That would be suicide for this nation imo.

 

[fuzz77]

Honestly, because with student loans he has essentially created a program where college grads are now pouring money to the govt by this new student loan program. A ton of money in payments are now being made that weren't before and at some point whatever you don't pay is just gone!

So pay some money and forget your total balance, just remember to keep that money coming.

So that said why worry about creating more debt as a nation when you've created a new money scheme?

"He has created a system"? Dude, "the system" existed long before Obama ever thought about running for office.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

Oh the irony. A Ben Carson (whos a terrible candidate) take-down story by Yahoo for having a friend thats a convicted felon. Yet it was ok to have Rev Wright and William Ayers in Obama's corner.

 

[Deeeefense]

Fair question and I'll answer it with a question: how many people are you willing to let die to find out?

Protection from terrorist attacks on our shores has little if anything to do with the Department of Defense except maybe the Coast Guard. The success rate we have realized in preventing terrorist attacks should largely be credited to our intelligence community, the FBI and local law enforcement. I suppose you could also throw in the Dept of Homeland Security though I'm not exactly sure what they do except make it a pain in the ass to get on an airplane.

 

[Deeeefense]

Oh the irony. A Ben Carson (whos a terrible candidate) take-down story by Yahoo for having a friend thats a convicted felon. Yet it was ok to have Rev Wright and William Ayers in Obama's corner.

No it really wasn't OK and he took a political beating for it.

I didn't read the Carson story but I can say from personal experience of running a business you would be surprised at the number of convicted felons you probably talk to every day and never know it. I had a guy working for me for over a year before I found out he had done hard time. When I started doing background checks on applicants about one third had some sort of criminal record and half of those were felony convictions. The thing is when you meet these people you would never know it.

Carson is a flawed candidate but I wouldn't hold this against him.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

No it really wasn't OK and he took a political beating for it.

I didn't read the Carson story but I can say from personal experience of running a business you would be surprised at the number of convicted felons you probably talk to every day and never know it. I had a guy working for me for over a year before I found out he had done hard time. When I started doing background checks on applicants about one third had some sort of criminal record and half of those were felony convictions. The thing is when you meet these people you would never know it.

Carson is a flawed candidate but I wouldn't hold this against him.

He took some flak. But nothing like it should have. It would have ended any GOP candidates campaign immediately.

 

[From-the-stands]

He took some flak. But nothing like it should have. It would have ended any GOP candidates campaign immediately.

Would you mind putting this in perspective for all of us?

Would you suggest Obama being outed for attending Jeremiah Wright's church is equivalent to Herman Cain being outed for 4 incidents of sexual harassment and a 13 year affair?

 

[KingOfBBN]

I know everyone says the next generation is the worst but this generation has to be the absolute worst.

 

[KingOfBBN]

Painful and not surprising.

 

[fuzz77]

Painful and not surprising.

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Hey Neil, up through about 1980 states funded 80-90% of public higher education. That's why when I was at UK that tuition was less than $300/semester. When my mother attended in the 1940's tuition was $15 a semester. Who was paying for it then?

 

[ram1955]

Who teaches kids to end every sentence with a question mark?

 

[ram1955]

Hey Neil, up through about 1980 states funded 80-90% of public higher education. That's why when I was at UK that tuition was less than $300/semester. When my mother attended in the 1940's tuition was $15 a semester. Who was paying for it then?

Higher ed has become a rip-off. If you were paying $300 per semester, you were in school about the same time I was. There weren't the bogus degrees like sports management, recording studio technology, etc...like kids are tempted with today. I just heard a school advertise having the only "Instructional Design" degree program in Ky.....What kind of program is that? Not a teacher ed program...What business is going to hire such a degreed person?

I was a school district admin back when they started the KEES program in Ky. That program fulfills W Wilkinson's promise that the lottery would go to education. After about 10 years of the program, we did a study of tuition costs at state schools. Interestingly, the schools had inflated their costs to the point that it more than offset the benefit of KEES. Essentially, either the legislators refused to provide sufficient funding or college admins saw KEES as a means of padding their accounts. There is NO reason for four years of college to cost more than $40K....in fact, I'd guess it could be done for less than half of that.

 

[Willy4UK]

I know everyone says the next generation is the worst but this generation has to be the absolute worst.

Man, I hate these kids today. Hate'em. Just want to smack the entitlement right off their smug faces.

Would love to take about 80 CC of pure adrenaline and run through that crowd and punch every son of a bitch in my way. Especially that white lil dong sucker on the bottom left holding that sign up. I'd punch him first.

 

[Mashburned]

300 in 1980? That's crazy.

 

[Mashburned]

Willy the sad part is I don't believe these twerps would be doing this if a) they didn't get the idea from some TED Talk or professor. B) there wasn't social media and "like" effect. C) they formed independent thoughts

This generation is the greatest gift to government. They are like children of the govt.

 

[JHB4UK]

Study how many colleges today have nonteaching 6 figure "vice presidents" versus 20 years ago, 30 years ago, 40 years ago. Ponzi scheme, force tuitions sky high to fund lavish salaries of far left, Fed gov now in total control of college debt, degrees so plentiful they do not result in high paying jobs or ability to pay said Debt.

 

[Willy4UK]

Willy the sad part is I don't believe these twerps would be doing this if a) they didn't get the idea from some TED Talk or professor. B) there wasn't social media and "like" effect. C) they formed independent thoughts

This generation is the greatest gift to government. They are like children of the govt.

Totally agree Mash

 

[qwesley]

Who teaches kids to end every sentence with a question mark?

Fuzzy has mastered the evasive rathole technique. Usually 6-8 questions per post.

 

[qwesley]

I think he wants to get out.

@politico: Trump lays into Carson in 9-minute rant: 'How stupid are the people of Iowa?' https://t.co/YL9C4qUmAa | AP Photo https://t.co/W5pP7jNRJo

 

[qwesley]

Study how many colleges today have nonteaching 6 figure "vice presidents" versus 20 years ago, 30 years ago, 40 years ago. Ponzi scheme, force tuitions sky high to fund lavish salaries of far left, Fed gov now in total control of college debt, degrees so plentiful they do not result in high paying jobs or ability to pay said Debt.

Yep, easily researched too, all online. Plus at UK as an example their retirement match is FOUR times the typical corporate plan.

 

[Bill Cosby]

Between the anchor babies coming of age and the retarded millenials currently voting, there's absolutely no hope for this country.

Here's an idea, idiots. Maybe instead of spending your time trying to get a handout or forgiveness of the debt you knowingly took on, you go get a job and pay for the services you signed up for.


I'm sure 95% of the people on here had Fuzz pegged as a 19 year old. The fact that he says he was in college in 1980 is absolutely embarrassing for him. Or at least should be.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

Study how many colleges today have nonteaching 6 figure "vice presidents" versus 20 years ago, 30 years ago, 40 years ago. Ponzi scheme, force tuitions sky high to fund lavish salaries of far left, Fed gov now in total control of college debt, degrees so plentiful they do not result in high paying jobs or ability to pay said Debt.

Yep. Its all in administration costs. Students get basically no benefit from all the increased costs.

Between the anchor babies coming of age and the retarded millenials currently voting, there's absolutely no hope for this country.

If Hillary wins, the country is doomed. Handouts will increase to shore up all the laziness votes. Illegals will be given voting rights and more handouts. Any and all liberal social media causes will be supported, so that anyone anywhere at any time will face retribution.

We're already at the precipice of no return, but she would willingly push it over the brink to ensure her and her party stay in power for good. Them staying in power for good means the end of this country.

 

[CatsFanGG24]

Painful and not surprising.

View embedded media

Well yeah, I mean....

 

[JHB4UK]

that delicate little snowflake was the best spokesman for that movement? Sheesh. that vid needed this guy

 

[fuzz77]

Yep, easily researched too, all online. Plus at UK as an example their retirement match is FOUR times the typical corporate plan.

Comparing one segment of compensation against another doesn't give real insight. You have to look at the entire compensation package. In general, salaries are lower at UK and for other state jobs...benefits are better than comparative jobs in the private sector...I know, I once worked there. I made a lateral job change that came with a near 40% raise in my salary. It was difficult to hire and keep good people because they could make much more in the private sector...benefits be damned. You can afford to contribute a little more to your 401K when you're making $100K vs $65K for the same job. Yeah, UK contributes 10% of your salary to your 403B when you contribute 5%. So for someone making $65K they are putting in $6,500. The same private sector job only contributes a 50% match of the first 6%...or 3% of your salary. (10% isn't 4 times 3%)
Tell me, would you rather have $65K + 10% or $100K + 3%? I'll let you decide.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

Would you mind putting this in perspective for all of us?

Would you suggest Obama being outed for attending Jeremiah Wright's church is equivalent to Herman Cain being outed for 4 incidents of sexual harassment and a 13 year affair?

Im not sure what youre asking.

Who teaches kids to end every sentence with a question mark?

Debating in non-sequitur is the liberal way. How else can they debate? They definitely cant do it logically, on the issues.

 

[P19978]

300 in 1980? That's crazy.

IIRC I paid tuition of $329 per semester in the fall of '81 at UK.

 

[P19978]

There is NO reason for four years of college to cost more than $40K....in fact, I'd guess it could be done for less than half of that.

My daughter is a HS senior.

We've applied to Stanford, Vandy, UK, Miami of Ohio, Harvard, NYU, and Transy (yes, she's really smart lol).

Stanford, Harvard and Vandy are about $65m per year. UK is what, about $22m, depending on meal plan/housing?

No way should any degree at any school cost $260m for 4 years.

 

[fuzz77]

Higher ed has become a rip-off. If you were paying $300 per semester, you were in school about the same time I was. There weren't the bogus degrees like sports management, recording studio technology, etc...like kids are tempted with today. I just heard a school advertise having the only "Instructional Design" degree program in Ky.....What kind of program is that? Not a teacher ed program...What business is going to hire such a degreed person?

I was a school district admin back when they started the KEES program in Ky. That program fulfills W Wilkinson's promise that the lottery would go to education. After about 10 years of the program, we did a study of tuition costs at state schools. Interestingly, the schools had inflated their costs to the point that it more than offset the benefit of KEES. Essentially, either the legislators refused to provide sufficient funding or college admins saw KEES as a means of padding their accounts. There is NO reason for four years of college to cost more than $40K....in fact, I'd guess it could be done for less than half of that.

You might have noticed the massive expansion in building that most all universities have undertaken in the last 25+ years.

The lottery for education scheme was one of the greatest snow jobs ever. Not only did it give states an out on funding public universities despite the fact that it was sold as additional money that would go to education...the money is mostly extracted from the poorer segment of society and is distributed to those better off. Had states continued to fund public ed at the same pre-lottery levels then I'd have much less of an issue.

I do agree that there are some bogus degrees out there but it's not so much that they are offered, it's that they are offered without proper guidance as to what professional opportunities such degrees offer. Nothing wrong with a sports management degree if your plans are to follow it up with Masters degree that will allow you to get into athletics administration...a degree in literature won't do a lot for you unless you plan to teach or go to law school.

 

[Mashburned]

But you can be whatever you want to be, Fuzz.

The UK building explosion has had me scratching my head for a while. They don't even have teachers for some classes, yet they have almost redone the entire campus. I just don't understand the "need". What's the point? I guess just to get more students/$?

 

[CatsFanGG24]

Fuzz is funny. Has worked in every job field...and his most recent response reminded me of one in months past:

In general, salaries are lower at UK and for other state jobs...benefits are better than comparative jobs in the private sector...I know, I once worked there.

Look, I've got nothing against Mercedes, BMW or any of the luxury brands, I drive one.

He's done it all!

 

[JHB4UK]

No way should any degree at any school cost $260m for 4 years.

But it doesnt, not for most kids

grants, scholarships, and then loans - nobody pays for it out of pocket. hence the "customers" who are plentiful to pay for the "product". If a true product or service were priced FAR above what it actually is worth, customers would not buy it. Unfortunately rational captalist concepts don't apply to higher education - but should.

 

[fuzz77]

Study how many colleges today have nonteaching 6 figure "vice presidents" versus 20 years ago, 30 years ago, 40 years ago. Ponzi scheme, force tuitions sky high to fund lavish salaries of far left, Fed gov now in total control of college debt, degrees so plentiful they do not result in high paying jobs or ability to pay said Debt.

While I think we're on the same side of this argument but when it comes to vice presidents and administrators 20, 30, 40 years ago there were a lot fewer making 6 figure salaries anywhere...public or private. Schools/states have to stay somewhat competitive with the private market to compete for talent. Eli Capiluto earns $500K to run a $3.4 Billion business. Most $3.4 B businesses are paying their top execs 7 figure salaries. The fact that executive compensation has increased so much speaks to the overall bigger picture of our economy in general where all of the gains in compensation have gone to the top.

 

[Bill Cosby]

To bad P19978's daughter doesn't self identify as black or transgendered.

Probably save a large some of money. Something to consider IMO.

 

[Bill Cosby]

LOL, I'd like to see how many school administrators and presidents could get a job running a different "3.4 billion dollar business".