The Ukraine war. (Yes, we'll mind our manners)

[LOL_Man]

sS is an unfunded liability. It is seperate from the national debt. If ss was cut it would not affect the debt only the unfunded debt obligations of 94 Trillion. There are laws preventing the borrowing of money to fund SS

You're not using your Republican decoder ring. When they say "cut Social Security" they mean "steal from Social Security."

Down in Florida with Rick Scott who almost replaced Mitch McConnell as head of the Republican Party is where cutting Social Security is coming from. Other Republicans got mad at him for saying the quiet part out loud, but I think in the next election cycle we might underscore a little louder and more clearly this Republican scheme to gut Social Security. The American people need to know what they're planning down there in Florida were all this talk is coming from. Close to where DeSantis hangs out I guess.

 

[entropy13]

because Russia has been funding Republican campaigns in the US since the 80s...

 

[Bill Cosby]

Since some think we shouldn't be sending aid to Ukraine, surely they think we shouldn't be putting troops on China's sovereign territory, right? I mean why should we care more for Taiwan? We don't need their advanced chips, right? We can go it alone, right?

"The U.S. is markedly increasing the number of troops deployed to Taiwan, more than quadrupling the current number to bolster a training program for the island’s military amid a rising threat from China."

WSJ News Exclusive | U.S. to Expand Troop Presence in Taiwan for Training Against China Threat

As tensions with China rise, the U.S. will deploy between 100 and 200 troops in the coming months, up from roughly 30 a year ago, to bolster a training program for the island’s military.

www.wsj.com

What do we get from Ukraine that in any way compares to the US industry and consumer reliance upon chips from Taiwan?

I imagine all the other warhawks just shook there heads at your self own.

 

[Catemus]

Need to cut SS then. That's where the overwhelming spending is.

How do you cut something that people have paid into during their working years and depend upon as a return-on-investment? SS is not a benefit. It’s not welfare. It’s not an entitlement. It’s an ROI.

You may be thinking of Supplemental Security Income (SSI). This welfare program has grown like a weed on 10-10-10 since its establishment in 1974. It’s so out of control that people started receiving money for their children without even asking for it during the pandemic. Of course, many wanted the payments to continue permanently.

 

[Wildcats1st]

Here’s the deal with this thread and where the war breaks down across political lines.

Libs (you know who they are here) they hate Russia because they think Putin put trump in office. Their hatred for a former president they are willing to risk ww3 because of it. Hello libs where were you when Obama was letting Putin take Crimea??? That was the liberal policy originally towards this conflict? Libs tend to say crazy things like “Crimea is and never will be part of Russia”. Ignoring that Crimea was part of Russia for over 200 years until 1954 when soviet leader Nikita kruschev a Ukrainian gave Crimea to his home country.

Neo cons, well they neo con. Tend to be older and ridged. They are war mongers. Libs have joined them bc of their trump hatred so we have an alliance of libs and neo cons. Kind of like the Jan 6th comittee with Cheney and a bunch of libs. The fact is these people don’t understand there is zero connection between Russia and trump. Zero connection between what’s happening now and trump. They are just eaten up with trump that their neo con impulses have kicked in and they rage at everything.

Full blown Conservatives, they tend to go either way based on the generation they come from although most are not in favor of continuous escalation. If they were forced to hide under their desks from nukes they are traumatized and tend to hate soviets anyway. They may say screw them both their both soviets, or maybe they don’t care they just want to see Russia fail. There are a lot of older conservatives who have moved on from the duck and cover but younger conservatives tend to fall in the camp of ending the war because they see where it ends if it continues. It’s obvious where things are headed.

Independents, true independents are free thinkers like Elon musk and can connect the dots between Victoria nulands involvement in over throwing a pro Russian government in Ukraine. (Neo cons and libs act like this never happened) they can make the connection between 2014 coup and exile of a lawfully elected government and The events occurring in Ukraine right now. Someone who has studied this from the moment yakanovych was forced out knows where this war stems from. It’s like to alot of us there was one Iraq war. The way though it has been spun is there were two Iraq wars. Fact is the first never ended. We were bombing that country all throughout the 90s and the lead up to the incursion to remove Sadam which of course happened bc Sadam tried to have papa bush assasinated in Kuwait. Neo cons loved the war and guess who hated it and the neo cons??? You guessed it the blood thirsty libs.

The crazy thing in all of this is how neo cons and libs have become joined at the hip. Not long ago libs led the charge as anti war. No longer. Trump did such a number on them they have jumped into bed with the neo cons. It’s almost like the political flip that occurred on civil rights in the 60s. Before that flip some of the most highly regarded Dems had been involved in the kkk and other white supremist organizations.

 

[Wildcats1st]

You're not using your Republican decoder ring. When they say "cut Social Security" they mean "steal from Social Security."

Down in Florida with Rick Scott who almost replaced Mitch McConnell as head of the Republican Party is where cutting Social Security is coming from. Other Republicans got mad at him for saying the quiet part out loud, but I think in the next election cycle we might underscore a little louder and more clearly this Republican scheme to gut Social Security. The American people need to know what they're planning down there in Florida were all this talk is coming from. Close to where DeSantis hangs out I guess.

Fear mongering like a the typical neo con/lib coalition that has been formed because of trump.

 

[Bill Cosby]

How do you cut something that people have paid into during their working years and depend upon as a return-on-investment? SS is not a benefit. It’s not welfare. It’s not an entitlement. It’s an ROI.

You may be thinking of Supplemental Security Income (SSI). This welfare program has grown like a weed on 10-10-10 since its establishment in 1974. It’s so out of control that people started receiving money for their children without even asking for it during the pandemic. Of course, many wanted the payments to continue permanently.

It’s not an ROI, it’s a ponzi scheme that’s going to collapse. You have to start making adjustments. Obviously you aren’t cutting benefits to current retirees.

Conversely we could make no adjustments, watch the program collapse and send tax dollars to pay Ukrainian pensions in the meantime.

 

[vhcat70]

What do we get from Ukraine that in any way compares to the US industry and consumer reliance upon chips from Taiwan?

You Putin apologists entirely miss the relevance to world commerce & security down the road. Y'all would never understand. Can't see further than quitting time. There was a huge uproar over Ukraine merely not delivering enough food now. Think (I know you can't) of the impact of further Putin aggression in Europe. Ukraine food is peanuts. Appeasing Putin means China has nothing to fear from any aggression.

 

[LOL_Man]

Have a google at Russians funneling money into the GOP via the NRA... for starters.

 

[vhcat70]

sS is an unfunded liability. It is seperate from the national debt. If ss was cut it would not affect the debt only the unfunded debt obligations of 94 Trillion. There are laws preventing the borrowing of money to fund SS

You think they wouldn't change laws to borrow for SS payments? You think out having as many outlays for SS wouldn't allow lower spending? I mean they would lower it, just spend it on something else but I think it would allow it.

 

[LOL_Man]

What do we get from Ukraine that in any way compares to the US industry and consumer reliance upon chips from Taiwan?

Food and fertilizer for the entire planet. That's why the price of fertilizer skyrocketed. Ukraine is a helluva lot more important than you apparently took 15 minutes to find out.

 

[Wildcats1st]

It’s not an ROI, it’s a ponzi scheme that’s going to collapse. You have to start making adjustments. Obviously you aren’t cutting benefits to current retirees.

Conversely we could make no adjustments, watch the program collapse and send tax dollars to pay Ukrainian pensions in the meantime.

It is an roi if it’s managed properly going forward. It’s funded upwards of 4 T or more. The key is to continue to ensure it stays funded (and invested properly) if that doesn’t happen then you’re right it will have been a Ponzi scheme. It seems like it’s on track for Ponzi scheme but there is a chance if politicians get their head out their ass it could be saved. But like climate change destroying the world by the year 2032 it becomes insolvent in the same year. This is just two more reasons this Ukraine war is going to cascade to ww3. Millenials are hopeless. No ss, no environment, the earth is screwed by 2032, impending Israeli Iranian war, Iran with nukes, China taking Taiwan. On top of a global deadly virus that China unleashed and the targeted systematic killing of young Americans by big pharma chino sending lethal fentynal to our shores.

 

[LOL_Man]

You Putin apologists entirely miss the relevance to world commerce & security down the road. Y'all would never understand. Can't see further than quitting time. There was a huge uproar over Ukraine merely not delivering enough food now. Think (I know you can't) of the impact of further Putin aggression in Europe. Ukraine food is peanuts. Appeasing Putin means China has nothing to fear from any aggression.

Some fertilizers have more than doubled in price. For instance, Melek said potash traded in Vancouver was priced at about $210 per metric tons at the beginning of 2021, and it’s now valued at $565. He added that urea for delivery to the Middle East was trading at $268 per metric ton on the Chicago Board of Trade in early 2021 and was valued at $887.50 on Tuesday.

Will said CF Industries is running its plants around the clock, foregoing some maintenance and trying to expedite shipments to areas in need. “There are no new tons to make. It’s just a matter of trying to get them there as quickly as we can into the marketplace,” he said.

Just as the price of fertilizers has jumped, the price of agricultural commodities has also been soaring, amid fears of shortages.

“We are absolutely facing a problem of catastrophic proportion here,” said Will. “Not only is the issue lack of availability and affordability of nutrients and inputs, but Russia and Ukraine have historically exported about 30% of the global wheat trade and 20% of global corn trade.” He added that there are stocks of those commodities that are not getting out to the market because the Black Sea is closed.

A fertilizer shortage, worsened by war in Ukraine, is driving up global food prices and scarcity

 

[LOL_Man]

It is an roi if it’s managed properly going forward. It’s funded upwards of 4 T or more. The key is to continue to ensure it stays funded (and invested properly) if that doesn’t happen then you’re right it will have been a Ponzi scheme. It seems like it’s on track for Ponzi scheme but there is a chance if politicians get their head out their ass it could be saved. But like climate change destroying the world by the year 2032 it becomes insolvent in the same year. This is just two more reasons this Ukraine war is going to cascade to ww3. Millenials are hopeless. No ss, no environment, the earth is screwed by 2032, impending Israeli Iranian war, Iran with nukes, China taking Taiwan. On top of a global deadly virus that China unleashed and the targeted systematic killing of young Americans by big pharma chino sending lethal fentynal to our shores.

Whoa big fella... you're out me'ing me.

 

[JumperJack]

History lesson for you because you desperately need it.

The United States once had the healthiest largest middle class the world had ever known. Built on the back of strong Unionization and the GI Bill. The United States was the largest CREDITOR nation on earth. More money was owed to us than any country on the globe.

Then along came Ronnie Reagan.

8 years after Reagan took office the United States was the largest DEBTOR nation on earth. The product of a credit card administration that bought in the myth of trickle down economics that has destroyed every country on earth that has tried it. They deregulated the banking industry and destroyed that sector making federally guaranteed deposits effectively Las Vegas gambling loot for speculators and vultures taking out S&L loans with terms that never required repayment. Legalized stealing. They ushered in the era of demonizing Government service and Union busting. The bottom fell out of the middle class and the rich blossomed under generous tax cuts.

We, in 8 years, effectively created the recipe fo another Mexico. Small very rich upper class (Mexico has more billionaires than the rest of Latin America combined), virtually no middle class, and a large powerless poverty class.

In all the years since Reagan began the destruction of the middle class, it has only once statistically rallied briefly under the Clinton administration. No ground was gained during Obama and I suspect none will be gained under Biden. It certainly hasn't been gained under the obscene Trump tax cuts nor the equally obscene Bush tax cuts.

That's why it galls me to my core to see the "new" Democrat party allow these thieving Republicans to even attempt to claim the middle class. The middle class is ours. Never forget that.

A bunch of word salad and as usual, no meat.

Reagan’s deficit spending is dwarfed by what came after but especially by the current loons. Government squanders far more than it steals from the people. You make no mention of NAFTA? How odd. And you abandoned the middle class when you embraced lunatic social policies and weaponized government against them. They have come to despise you. Never forget that.

 

[JumperJack]

Some fertilizers have more than doubled in price. For instance, Melek said potash traded in Vancouver was priced at about $210 per metric tons at the beginning of 2021, and it’s now valued at $565. He added that urea for delivery to the Middle East was trading at $268 per metric ton on the Chicago Board of Trade in early 2021 and was valued at $887.50 on Tuesday.

Will said CF Industries is running its plants around the clock, foregoing some maintenance and trying to expedite shipments to areas in need. “There are no new tons to make. It’s just a matter of trying to get them there as quickly as we can into the marketplace,” he said.

Just as the price of fertilizers has jumped, the price of agricultural commodities has also been soaring, amid fears of shortages.

“We are absolutely facing a problem of catastrophic proportion here,” said Will. “Not only is the issue lack of availability and affordability of nutrients and inputs, but Russia and Ukraine have historically exported about 30% of the global wheat trade and 20% of global corn trade.” He added that there are stocks of those commodities that are not getting out to the market because the Black Sea is closed.

A fertilizer shortage, worsened by war in Ukraine, is driving up global food prices and scarcity

Thanks for confirming what was predicted a year ago.

 

[Catemus]

It’s not an ROI, it’s a ponzi scheme that’s going to collapse. You have to start making adjustments. Obviously you aren’t cutting benefits to current retirees.

Conversely we could make no adjustments, watch the program collapse and send tax dollars to pay Ukrainian pensions in the meantime.

Why would you say it’s not an ROI? People pay into the program, the money is supposedly grown through investments and then people withdraw from it after they retire.

It can be ended, and definitely should be phased out because too many hands want to take the input from workers and give it to those who don’t want to work. Vote farming, in a nutshell. Both parties are guilty of raiding SS for their nefarious purposes.

That’s why SS is in such a precarious state at this time. Money that was supposed to go into the program was rerouted to programs such as SSI. That’s robbing seniors to pay layabouts who can’t afford to have children, and shouldn’t have had them in the first place.

 

[SDC888]

Have a google at Russians funneling money into the GOP via the NRA... for starters.

Sounds like a conspiracy theory as hairbrained as any other.

Do you genuinely believe the Republican party wants Russia to take over America? Careful with that google machine, no tellin' what you'll believe.

 

[WildcatofNati]

LOLZ was a bedwetting coward over a glorified flu bug, yet is absolutely fearless in the face of a nuclear Armageddon. This is a Catch-22 of the first order.

 

[SDC888]

You couldn't have serious discussion about that eitehrr

 

[Spica Orbit]

^Very true.

Amazing how so many underestimate our gigantic military advantage. We can just lend a few of our weapons to Ukraine and they can fight the 2nd most powerful country on earth to a standstill.

Here's something to keep in mind. While we are giving Ukraine these weapons, that's not our best stuff. While we're still giving Ukraine these weapons, it's still not our guys doing the fighting. While we're giving Ukraine these weapons, our training, readiness, and tactics aren't the ones using those weapons.

But, laughably, none of those even touch on the biggest difference. Ukraine is not fighting with US Air Power overhead. Imagine all the above with our air support. Precision bombing and attack helicopters all over the place supporting perfectly in unison with our advancing ground forces.

Us fighting Russia conventionally will look exactly like the first Gulf War. Period. We go right through them flawlessly. The last couple of years of the Repubs down talking our GREAT military is sickening and our boys deserve better.

---
Reading through this simplistic, mind numbing stupidity reminds me of just how easy it was for Hitler to convince the German people that killing six million Jews was the right thing to do. In your case, it wouldn't even take Hitler. I'd say the old dumbocrat crypt keeper in the oval office could convince you to do about anything.

 

[WildcatofNati]

---
Reading through this simplistic, mind numbing stupidity reminds me of just how easy it was for Hitler to convince the German people that killing six million Jews was the right thing to do. In your case, it wouldn't even take Hitler. I'd say the old dumbocrat crypt keeper in the oval office could convince you to do about anything.

I liked your post, but that was not sufficient.

Well said, and I hope that these warhawks on this thread give it some thought and reconsider their zeal for a nuclear war.

 

[WildcatofNati]

I'll bet Z looks pretty cool roaming around with a mask. He probably doesn't know why everyone else is pointing a finger at him and laughing.

 

[The-Hack]

Another Russian falls out of a window to death:

A top Russian military official is dead after falling out of a 16th-floor window, the latest in a string of untimely deaths

Marina Yankina, the head of the financial support department for the Russian Defense Ministry's Western Military District, was found dead Wednesday.

www.businessinsider.com

If developing real estate in Russia, I wouldn’t build higher than two stories tall.

Oligarchs and officials would pay top dollar!!

 

[Catemus]

Another Russian falls out of a window to death:

A top Russian military official is dead after falling out of a 16th-floor window, the latest in a string of untimely deaths

Marina Yankina, the head of the financial support department for the Russian Defense Ministry's Western Military District, was found dead Wednesday.

www.businessinsider.com

If developing real estate in Russia, I wouldn’t build higher than two stories tall.

Oligarchs and officials would pay top dollar!!

I wonder if an official’s rank in Putin’s administration determines how many stories they fall. 16 stories is pretty high up. She must have been important.

 

[vhcat70]

How do you cut something that people have paid into during their working years and depend upon as a return-on-investment? SS is not a benefit. It’s not welfare. It’s not an entitlement. It’s an ROI.

You may be thinking of Supplemental Security Income (SSI). This welfare program has grown like a weed on 10-10-10 since its establishment in 1974. It’s so out of control that people started receiving money for their children without even asking for it during the pandemic. Of course, many wanted the payments to continue permanently.

It's not an entitlement. The benefit is whatever the Congress at the time says it is & they've changed that multiple times. What you paid in results in different benefit returns for each person depending on what Congress says. If nothing changes, in roughly 10 years all benefits will drop by about 30% because that's all the pay-ins support. So where's our so-called entitlement then?

 

[vhcat70]

It is an roi if it’s managed properly going forward. It’s funded upwards of 4 T or more. The key is to continue to ensure it stays funded (and invested properly) if that doesn’t happen then you’re right it will have been a Ponzi scheme. It seems like it’s on track for Ponzi scheme but there is a chance if politicians get their head out their ass it could be saved. But like climate change destroying the world by the year 2032 it becomes insolvent in the same year. This is just two more reasons this Ukraine war is going to cascade to ww3. Millenials are hopeless. No ss, no environment, the earth is screwed by 2032, impending Israeli Iranian war, Iran with nukes, China taking Taiwan. On top of a global deadly virus that China unleashed and the targeted systematic killing of young Americans by big pharma chino sending lethal fentynal to our shores.

Politicians can't save it. All they can do is increase taxes to kill economic growth or cut benefits. Neither is saving.

 

[bcw1029]

Another Russian falls out of a window to death:

A top Russian military official is dead after falling out of a 16th-floor window, the latest in a string of untimely deaths

Marina Yankina, the head of the financial support department for the Russian Defense Ministry's Western Military District, was found dead Wednesday.

www.businessinsider.com

If developing real estate in Russia, I wouldn’t build higher than two stories tall.

Oligarchs and officials would pay top dollar!!

You can still “fall to your death” on stairs though! Better make sure it’s one level and there are no basements.

 

[Spica Orbit]

I liked your post, but that was not sufficient.

Well said, and I hope that these warhawks on this thread give it some thought and reconsider their zeal for a nuclear war.

---
Anybody that just flippantly passes off a possible nuclear exchange with Russia needs to go back & look at what 15 kiloton & 21 kiloton atomic weapons did to Hiroshima & Nagasaki. Then consider that the nuclear weapons the US has available today run from roughly 200 kt to 1.2 megatons. The Russians have a large force of equally destructive weapons. Who in their right mind wants to risk that kind of confrontation?

 

[bcw1029]

Politicians can't save it. All they can do is increase taxes to kill economic growth or cut benefits. Neither is saving.

Increasing the retirement age has been entertained as an idea, but it may be met with a series of protests like the French are reacting to pension reform.

I dislike George W, but he was vilified for simply mentioning the prospect of taking a small percentage of SS and having the option of putting into a fund with a higher ROI, this was only for younger workers

 

[bcw1029]

Sounds like a conspiracy theory as hairbrained as any other.

Do you genuinely believe the Republican party wants Russia to take over America? Careful with that google machine, no tellin' what you'll believe.

Many on the alt-right adore Putin and see him as a “patriotic family values” Conservative. But you’re correct, this is absolute nonsense.

 

[IkeCat]

Politicians can't save it. All they can do is increase taxes to kill economic growth or cut benefits. Neither is saving.

They could fix it, but will never happen. All they would have to is make it where SSI was as important to there retirement income as "regular" Americans. We would see the fastest the gov't action ever!

 

[Wildcats1st]

---
Anybody that just flippantly passes off a possible nuclear exchange with Russia needs to go back & look at what 15 kiloton & 21 kiloton atomic weapons did to Hiroshima & Nagasaki. Then consider that the nuclear weapons the US has available today run from roughly 200 kt to 1.2 megatons. The Russians have a large force of equally destructive weapons. Who in their right mind wants to risk that kind of confrontation?

“They are duds. They will misfire.” A lot of people actually believe these statements

 

[jameslee32]

Ukrainians are the same as Russians, in that respect, just as they are in others.

It's not our role, nor is it the interests of the American people, to settle their civil war(s).

IT's only use there, other than MIC profits, is domestic political distraction/ignorance.

Guess I missed the speech where the Ivan's talking point declared the Ukraine invasion was a civil war. As always, subject to change as they move the goal posts again.

 

[Catemus]

Sounds like a conspiracy theory as hairbrained as any other.

Do you genuinely believe the Republican party wants Russia to take over America? Careful with that google machine, no tellin' what you'll believe.

The Republican Party doesn’t but its alt-right faction does want a Putinesque figure installed who will run the US in a similar fashion to Russia.

 

[Catemus]

Many on the alt-right adore Putin and see him as a “patriotic family values” Conservative. But you’re correct, this is absolute nonsense.

And as usual, they have things backwards. Of the two pics below, one evokes family values while the other says something very different.

 

[SDC888]

Guess I missed the speech where the Ivan's talking point declared the Ukraine invasion was a civil war. As always, subject to change as they move the goal posts again.

I said it was a civil war(s) at the beginning of this. I doubt there's anywhere where Ivan's talking point declared it one.

 

[Catemus]

They could fix it, but will never happen. All they would have to is make it where SSI was as important to there retirement income as "regular" Americans. We would see the fastest the gov't action ever!

SSI is “tweaked” to give its 7 million (and growing) recipients more.

Social Security Proposes Change To SSI Benefits

The Social Security Administration is looking to make a big change to the way that it determines monthly payments for people with disabilities receiving Supplemental Security Income benefits.

www.disabilityscoop.com

 

[Bill Cosby]

Why would you say it’s not an ROI? People pay into the program, the money is supposedly grown through investments and then people withdraw from it after they retire.

It can be ended, and definitely should be phased out because too many hands want to take the input from workers and give it to those who don’t want to work. Vote farming, in a nutshell. Both parties are guilty of raiding SS for their nefarious purposes.

That’s why SS is in such a precarious state at this time. Money that was supposed to go into the program was rerouted to programs such as SSI. That’s robbing seniors to pay layabouts who can’t afford to have children, and shouldn’t have had them in the first place.

I say it’s not an ROI because it’s not an ROI. Nothing is invested. So there is no return on investment. It’s a Ponzi scheme. An unfunded DB plan.

 

[WildcatofNati]

And as usual, they have things backwards. Of the two pics below, one evokes family values while the other says something very different.

"Alt right", he says! "Alt right". At least the "alt right" isn't egging for World War 3, which is better than neocon and woke filth like yourself, although in fairness I'm not sure if you're a warmonger from the woke Left or the Neocon Right. Either way, you are a Warhawk who isn't physically helping out in the war. Pathetic.