The most important aspect of our federal government is...

[creed 1,658]

fiscal responsibilty to ensure current and future citizens are not burdened and enslaved to the government. I was in agreement with increasing the number or IRS agents (not sure we needed 87K), however there are many, and I mean many cash based transactions that take place to avoid taxation and most of your know this for a fact.

 

https://www.pgpf.org/national-debt-clock

 

 

[Son of A Tiger 561]

I say our security is the most important.

[SLAG-91 1,483]

Private AP math tutoring, you say?

Straight cash, homey.

[icanthearyou 4,463]

WAS,,, a government of the people.  But, the people gave up principles for ideology. 

The people chose fear, anger, hate, lies over justice, equality, virtue, knowledge.

 

 

[Son of A Tiger 561]

6 hours ago, icanthearyou said:

WAS,,, a government of the people.  But, the people gave up principles for ideology. 

The people chose fear, anger, hate, lies over justice, equality, virtue, knowledge.

 

 

Not all the people. I haven't.

[icanthearyou 4,463]

On 1/19/2023 at 10:12 AM, creed said:

current and future citizens are not burdened and enslaved to the government

The government is not the power in this country.  The government is owned by capital.

Debt is by design.

[GoAU 1,603]

On 1/19/2023 at 11:12 AM, creed said:

fiscal responsibilty to ensure current and future citizens are not burdened and enslaved to the government. I was in agreement with increasing the number or IRS agents (not sure we needed 87K), however there are many, and I mean many cash based transactions that take place to avoid taxation and most of your know this for a fact.

 

https://www.pgpf.org/national-debt-clock

 

 

Not sure I’d put this first, but it’s way up on the list.  That being said, in the not too distant past, our politicians completely gave up on the concept of having a budget, which is completely insane.   Now we just pass “debt resolutions”, kick the can further down the road, devalue our currency and enslave future generations to foreign debt.  
 

Pathetic really….

[icanthearyou 4,463]

2 hours ago, GoAU said:

Not sure I’d put this first, but it’s way up on the list.  That being said, in the not too distant past, our politicians completely gave up on the concept of having a budget, which is completely insane.   Now we just pass “debt resolutions”, kick the can further down the road, devalue our currency and enslave future generations to foreign debt.  
 

Pathetic really….

The result of the system of patronage (privatization) and, Wall St. power.  The government is for sale. 

As long as we are divided as a populous, there is no one to stop it.  There are no more citizen groups with any voice.  No one who will put principle ahead of politics and power.  That is pathetic and insane.

A tiny fraction of America is becoming super rich while, the vast majority struggles to maintain.  That tiny fraction pays the lowest tax rate and, makes up the vast share of campaign "contributions".

 

 

[aubiefifty 16,931]

On 1/21/2023 at 7:47 PM, icanthearyou said:

The result of the system of patronage (privatization) and, Wall St. power.  The government is for sale. 

As long as we are divided as a populous, there is no one to stop it.  There are no more citizen groups with any voice.  No one who will put principle ahead of politics and power.  That is pathetic and insane.

A tiny fraction of America is becoming super rich while, the vast majority struggles to maintain.  That tiny fraction pays the lowest tax rate and, makes up the vast share of campaign "contributions".

 

 

i saw a couple of the new generation address being lazy on reddit. they basically said they do not like working for less than a livable wage when the upperclass is sucking the value out of too many jobs for their own enrichment. i tend to believe this as well. we have some that do it right but not many.

[DKW 86 7,451]

21 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

i saw a couple of the new generation address being lazy on reddit. they basically said they do not like working for less than a livable wage when the upperclass is sucking the value out of too many jobs for their own enrichment. i tend to believe this as well. we have some that do it right but not many.

Maybe the Looming Revolution is already underway...Everything in your statement of their views is factually correct. As ichy said, our govt is 100% for sale to the highest bidder and we all know it. Problem, there are no more Mr. Smith's Going to Washington.

 

[AU9377 5,051]

On 1/21/2023 at 6:23 PM, GoAU said:

Not sure I’d put this first, but it’s way up on the list.  That being said, in the not too distant past, our politicians completely gave up on the concept of having a budget, which is completely insane.   Now we just pass “debt resolutions”, kick the can further down the road, devalue our currency and enslave future generations to foreign debt.  
 

Pathetic really….

It is debt moreso than simply foreign debt.  The funding resolutions have to be passed because they pay the bills for what is already due.  That isn't new spending.  Where we have to get some control is over the budget itself.  We have the money.  We spend an astronomical amount of money on defense spending.  We simply do not need to spend an amount that is the equivalent of every other industrialized nation on earth multiplied by 4 or more.  There is no excuse for the level of spending that we pledge ourselves to spend.  Entitlements must also be examined, but not just social welfare.  Corporate welfare must also be addressed.  We pretend to live in a capitalist corporate society, but a little look behind the curtain shows that we supplement our corporations at the same level or more than many more socialist countries around the world.

[GoAU 1,603]

11 hours ago, AU9377 said:

It is debt moreso than simply foreign debt.  The funding resolutions have to be passed because they pay the bills for what is already due.  That isn't new spending.  Where we have to get some control is over the budget itself.  We have the money.  We spend an astronomical amount of money on defense spending.  We simply do not need to spend an amount that is the equivalent of every other industrialized nation on earth multiplied by 4 or more.  There is no excuse for the level of spending that we pledge ourselves to spend.  Entitlements must also be examined, but not just social welfare.  Corporate welfare must also be addressed.  We pretend to live in a capitalist corporate society, but a little look behind the curtain shows that we supplement our corporations at the same level or more than many more socialist countries around the world.

I don’t disagree with what you’ve said.  Our military spending is definitely needed, but there are certainly lots of opportunities to reduce the total spend, without cutting size or equipment - there is a lot of fat.   The same can be said for welfare - if we really cracked down on abuse, we could probably cut 10-25% of the spending without affecting the people that truly need it.  
 

mom not sure if you’ve ready Rand Paul’s “List of Grievances” published around Christmas of some of the absolutely wasteful spending of our government - but it made my blood boil. The amount of debt burden we are saddling our future generations with is obscene.  
 

 

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/rand-pauls-festivus-report-airs-482-billion-federal-waste-grievances.amp

Here are a couple of other sites I quickly pulled up that covered this and a couple examples   I truly don’t know anything about the lean / bias of the next two sites (I assume Fox News may lean slightly right  )    But regardless of the lean, they are just pointing out what Paul said as a congressman 

https://deadline.com/2022/12/festivus-airing-of-grievances-senator-rand-paul-government-waste-1234661124/amp/

The senator’s 2022 grievances included:

• The National Institutes of Health spending $2.3 million injecting beagle puppies with cocaine
• NIH separately spending $187,500 to verify that kids love their pets.
• The Department of Health and Human Services spent $689,222 to study romance between parrots.
• The NIH funded a $3 million annual research project to watch hamsters on steroids fight
• The US Census Bureau spent $2.5 million on Super Bowl Ads.

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/rand-paul-outlines-54-billion-in-outlandish-government-waste-in-annual-festivus-report/

Among Paul’s instances of waste were several health studies, including more than $36 million spent on studying why stress makes hair turn gray, more than $1 million spent studying whether people will eat ground-up bugs, and more than $3 million spent interviewing San Franciscans about their edible cannabis use.

As far as taxpayer dollars spent aiding other countries, $8.62 billion was spent in Afghanistan on counternarcotics efforts, more than $37 million was spent helping deal with truant Filipino youth, and more than $3 million was spent on sending Russians to American community colleges for a “gap year.”

Among funds spent on the environment, energy, and scientific research, more than $1 million was spent walking lizards on a treadmill, nearly $200,000 was spent studying how people cooperate while playing e-sport video games, and more than $2 million on developing a wearable headset to track eating behaviors.

 

 

This is a LOT of money our government is pissing away with absolutely NO ACCOUNTABILITY.  It’s just sad.  

[homersapien 11,461]

Most of this stuff is related to basic research, which is a worthwhile thing for the government to be doing (since the commercial sector won't).

Don't be taken in by the titles or specific research goals.  There are usually fundamental mechanisms that are being studied.