The Morning Rant: Minimalist Edition

Deficit spending is an absolutely awful thing, and necessary only in dire circumstances. I think most people will agree that our deficit spending during World War II was a good idea. And temporary deficits for discrete and limited reasons may be good political policy.

But over the past 30 years we have lost our f*cking minds and spent at rates that are unfathomable. According to Murray Rothbard, during the Great Depression, total tax burden almost doubled. What would be required today to approach some sort of parity with that time? 95% marginal tax rates? $5/gallon gas tax? 50% capital gains tax? And even with that the math simply does not add up.

Without a significant decrease in government spending lasting for decades, we are in a money-printing spiral that will end very, very badly.

The arguments made against any sort of government responsibility with its check book are legion. "It will hurt the poor." "It will destroy the middle class." "It will depress the economy and we will have another depression." The deficit is too large and the debt can't be paid!" "Besides, governments can run deficits indefinitely!"

But they can't. Just ask the silent and ignored people in the flyover states how they are doing with stagnant wage growth and skyrocketing inflation. Or first-time home buyers who can't afford more than a tiny home far from work because government borrowing crowded out private lending.

Inflation is caused by government. There is no other economic player with the power to cause it, and anyone who suggests otherwise is a liar or a fool...or both. It is also an incredibly destructive thing, and entire societies can be brought to their knees by its depredations.

But with sufficient will, inflation can be ended. And how is that done?

DOGE-Style Efficiency Cuts Deliver Argentina's First Budget Surplus in 123 Years.

In just one year, President Javier Milei has transformed Argentina’s economic landscape, slashing the national budget deficit to zero for the first time in 123 years. This is a historic milestone in his presidency, which began on December 10, 2023.
Milei took over an economy crippled by rampant inflation, where supermarkets had to adjust prices daily. However, with his aggressive cutbacks to the size of the state, often symbolized by his wielding a chainsaw, Milei has steered the country back toward fiscal stability.
Argentinian inflation plummeted from a staggering 200 percent in 2023 to a mere 2.7 percent by October 2024. This dramatic reduction was celebrated by Milei in a recent broadcast, in which he stated, “The deficit was the root of all our evils—without it, there’s no debt, no emission, no inflation. Today, we have a sustained fiscal surplus, free of default, for the first time in 123 years.”

That is in one year.

Think what Donald Trump can do in four years, and then realize that no economic policy, no government program, no deficit spending can revive an economy faster than simply allowing the people to make their own economic decisions. That's what deficit reduction allows, and that is the glory of the free market.

Donald Trump and his capable advisors have the opportunity to take Javier Milei's grand experiment with Argentina and extrapolate it to the biggest economy on earth. We saw what Donald Trump's mostly rational economic and government policies were able to achieve during his first term. Simply decreasing regulation and government interference in the economy resulted in a truly impressive economic expansion. If that returns, and add to it a marked decrease in government spending, our economy will return to its former glory, with the opportunity for long-term economic growth that will go a long way toward repairing the damage done by the Biden junta's rabid spending and top down control of the economy.

[Crossposted at CutJibNewsletter]

Posted by: CBD at 11:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 1st?

Posted by: Bulg at December 12, 2024 11:00 AM (v6JzV)

2 Yessss!! I'll call 'em.

Posted by: Bulg at December 12, 2024 11:00 AM (v6JzV)

3 Hat trick?

Posted by: Bulg at December 12, 2024 11:01 AM (v6JzV)

4 Where is everyone?

Posted by: Bulg at December 12, 2024 11:02 AM (v6JzV)

5 Good morning good people.

Posted by: Tonypete at December 12, 2024 11:02 AM (WXNFJ)

6 Hi, Bulg. How's it going?

Well, Bulg. How about with you?

Posted by: Bulg at December 12, 2024 11:02 AM (v6JzV)

7 Donald Trump and his capable advisors have the opportunity to take Javier Milei's grand experiment with Argentina and extrapolate it to the biggest economy on earth.

And this is why Donald Trump must be killed. -- the global left

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at December 12, 2024 11:02 AM (ExV1e)

8 $5/gallon gas tax?

CA governor Newsom just came in his pants.

Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism in Solidarity with the Struggle at December 12, 2024 11:02 AM (3xAmh)

9 DOGE will be busy.

This was from zerohedge.

BY TYLER DURDEN

THURSDAY, DEC 12, 2024 - 08:55 AM

We thought last month's US budget deficit was bad. Boy, were we wrong.

It is only fitting that the twilight days of the Biden admin would exhibit more of the same fakeness that defined not only all of the past four years, but certainly the fakeness of that Kamala Harris presidential campaign which had a billion dollars a month ago and ended up in failure, broke... and millions in debt. We are talking, of course, about the relentless debt-funded spree that somehow became synonymous with economic success in the US.

According to the latest Treasury data released today, in November - the second month of fiscal 2025 - the US spent a massive $584.2 billion, a 14% increase from the prior year, and a record for the month of November. For those who remember out outrage from a month ago, will also remember that the latest deficit number follows what was also a record government outlay for the month of October.

Posted by: Stateless at December 12, 2024 11:03 AM (jvJvP)

10 It can be done! And, I hope Trump leads the US in doing the same.

Posted by: Ann at December 12, 2024 11:03 AM (4neFu)

11 Can't believe I left my fine art criticism just in time to get willowed by the monkee. (Looks at clock) Darn your punctuality, CBD!

Posted by: mindful webworker - Whatever happened to Willow anyway? at December 12, 2024 11:03 AM (84HHu)

12 > That is in one year.
Think what Donald Trump can do in four years, and then realize that no economic policy, no government program, no deficit spending can revive an economy faster than simply allowing the people to make their own economic decisions.
-----
If only our own government would get out of the way....

Posted by: Martini Farmer at December 12, 2024 11:04 AM (Q4IgG)

13 I hope they discover Milei's birth certificate and it says that he was born in Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires, West Virginia.

Posted by: Bulg at December 12, 2024 11:04 AM (v6JzV)

14 The DOGE concept and the people involved are fantastic. Ultimately, Congress is gonna have to get off their collective fat cans and pass sane budgets and funding cuts

My personal pet peeve: defund public television and NPR

Posted by: LinusVanPelt at December 12, 2024 11:05 AM (i5Vkf)

15 Inflation is caused by government. There is no other economic player with the power to cause it

Someone has to offer the deal, and someone has to accept it.

Posted by: The Federal Reserve is not Federal at December 12, 2024 11:05 AM (OkFiN)

16 Government controlled economy… there’s a name for that.. slips my mind..

Posted by: tubal at December 12, 2024 11:05 AM (4GXOe)

17 That is in one year.
Think what Donald Trump can do in four years, and then realize that no economic policy, no government program, no deficit spending can revive an economy faster than simply allowing the people to make their own economic decisions.
-----
If only our own government would get out of the way....
Posted by: Martini Farmer at December 12, 2024

***
Trump and his team can kick it out of the way, or hamstring it so it can't hobble into the path of real progress.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 12, 2024 11:06 AM (J2vNu)

18 Saw Millei is going to cut taxes 90% too.

Posted by: BruceWayne at December 12, 2024 11:06 AM (CIS44)

19 Trump and his team can kick it out of the way, or hamstring it so it can't hobble into the path of real progress.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 12, 2024 11:06 AM (J2vNu)

Get on the train or on the tracks, I don't care which.
-Rich Baris

Posted by: BruceWayne at December 12, 2024 11:07 AM (CIS44)

20 "Simply decreasing regulation and government interference in the economy resulted in a truly impressive economic expansion. If that returns, and add to it a marked decrease in government spending, our economy will return to its former glory"

So let it be written and let it be done.

But I want pictures of Musk or Ramaswamey walking through every federal department and agency carrying a scythe.

Let the games begin!

Posted by: Madame Mayhem (uppity wench) at December 12, 2024 11:07 AM (4XwPj)

21 Saw Millei is going to cut taxes 90% too.
Posted by: BruceWayne at December 12, 2024

***
"Where will you go now?"

"Ar-gen-tee-nah?"
( -- Yellow Submarine)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 12, 2024 11:07 AM (J2vNu)

22 18 Saw Millei is going to cut taxes 90% too.
Posted by: BruceWayne at December 12, 2024 11:06 AM (CIS44)

Good for him. Sounds like he has power that our chief executive does not have.

Posted by: tubal at December 12, 2024 11:07 AM (4GXOe)

23 Tomorrow is Friday the 13th.
Will the art thread be another fat man on an ottoman?

Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism in Solidarity with the Struggle at December 12, 2024 11:08 AM (3xAmh)

24 Only way this happens in the US is if the medical monopolies are destroyed. Medicare/Medicaid are 75% of the problem.

Posted by: Alt Numlock at December 12, 2024 11:09 AM (W9ktR)

25 22 18 Saw Millei is going to cut taxes 90% too.
Posted by: BruceWayne at December 12, 2024 11:06 AM (CIS44)

Good for him. Sounds like he has power that our chief executive does not have.
Posted by: tubal at December 12, 2024 11:07 AM (4GXOe)

========

I don't think the American president could shut down a single agency unilaterally. He could probably shut down some departments. Maybe even most.

I suspect Milei is also getting supporting legislation through the country's congress.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, trying to figure out Joel Schumacher at December 12, 2024 11:10 AM (cD1dp)

26 Don't forget that Trump45 also spent like a drunken sailor. I think the Donald discovered that it is a lot of fun to buy votes with other people's money. If we can hold him to his promises and daily, yes daily, remind him and the others in there of Argentina's success then we have a chance. Otherwise it will be more of the same.

Posted by: Earl Schlobodowicz at December 12, 2024 11:11 AM (P7Iz+)

27 Tomorrow is Friday the 13th.
Will the art thread be another fat man on an ottoman?
Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism

CBD will link to the Hot Air Art Thread. Naked Ed Morrisey.

Posted by: Bulg at December 12, 2024 11:11 AM (v6JzV)

28 But I want pictures of Musk or Ramaswamey walking through every federal department and agency carrying a scythe.

I want pictures of Musk walking into buildings carrying a sink, signaling that 75% cuts are happening by lunchtime.

Posted by: t-bird at December 12, 2024 11:11 AM (lHpdB)

29 Don’t wanna throw a turd in the punch bowl, but has anyone else noticed that Trump hasn’t shown much appetite for budget cuts? I suspect he’ll slash regulations again… and hopefully DOGE will bring many recos…. But I don’t think he’d have an inclination to touch entitlements which are a huge percentage of guv outlays

Posted by: LinusVanPelt at December 12, 2024 11:12 AM (6RwsA)

30 27 Tomorrow is Friday the 13th.
Will the art thread be another fat man on an ottoman?
Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism

CBD will link to the Hot Air Art Thread. Naked Ed Morrisey.
Posted by: Bulg at December 12, 2024 11:11 AM (v6JzV)

A trio… Morrisey, Stelter, Goldberg..

Posted by: tubal at December 12, 2024 11:12 AM (4GXOe)

31 DRONES!

Posted by: That Guy Who Is Obsessed With Drones! at December 12, 2024 11:12 AM (uxCna)

32 I think we are going to be very let down by DOGE. It's exciting, and I know Musk and Vivek mean well, but no one in DC has ever shown any appetite for actual real cuts, and even if they pay lip service to them, it never happens. It will take actual burning times for that day to come.

Posted by: brak at December 12, 2024 11:13 AM (NGHTx)

33 I just hope Milei cracks down on the Nazi penguins burrowing underneath his country.

Posted by: Guy who is very concerned about the Nazi penguins at December 12, 2024 11:13 AM (vFG9F)

34 Morning.

The places I've seen report talking about Argentina's surplus all say it's their first one in 12 years, not 123.

Posted by: Robert at December 12, 2024 11:13 AM (UzLzx)

35 Just stopping the monthly payments to illegals for housing, taxpayer funded health care and food stamps will cut ten percent of the budget.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at December 12, 2024 11:13 AM (OwXJq)

36 29 Don’t wanna throw a turd in the punch bowl, but has anyone else noticed that Trump hasn’t shown much appetite for budget cuts? I suspect he’ll slash regulations again… and hopefully DOGE will bring many recos…. But I don’t think he’d have an inclination to touch entitlements which are a huge percentage of guv outlays
Posted by: LinusVanPelt at December 12, 2024 11:12 AM (6RwsA)

Lame ducks can be whimsical…

Posted by: tubal at December 12, 2024 11:13 AM (4GXOe)

37 29 Don’t wanna throw a turd in the punch bowl, but has anyone else noticed that Trump hasn’t shown much appetite for budget cuts? I suspect he’ll slash regulations again… and hopefully DOGE will bring many recos…. But I don’t think he’d have an inclination to touch entitlements which are a huge percentage of guv outlays
Posted by: LinusVanPelt at December 12, 2024 11:12 AM (6RwsA)

Trump won't touch SS or Medicare or Vet benefits...he just won't. It's not in him.

He may go after Medicaid, SNAP, and Welfare, but those do pale in size...and yet, even getting these under control would help. Every drop will kick the can down the road farther for collapse...

Posted by: Nova Local at December 12, 2024 11:14 AM (exHjb)

38 Tomorrow is Friday the 13th.
Will the art thread be another fat man on an ottoman?
Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism in Solidarity with the Struggle at December 12, 2024 11:08 AM

Freddy Kruger wearing a Saw mask wielding dual chainsaws.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at December 12, 2024 11:15 AM (kgE5c)

39 I see Janet Yellen expressed minor disappointment she didn't do "more" to cut the debt/deficit.

And by more I think she means any.

Posted by: 18-1 at December 12, 2024 11:15 AM (oZhjI)

40 Do what Musk did at Twitter… didn’t he fire something like 60% of the staff and the app didn’t suffer at all. In Fed guv I think you could fire 80%

Posted by: LinusVanPelt at December 12, 2024 11:15 AM (6RwsA)

41 Freddy Kruger wearing a Saw mask wielding dual chainsaws.
Posted by: RedMindBlueState at December 12, 2024 11:15 AM (kgE5c)

I'd hang it, maybe even get it tattooed.

Posted by: BruceWayne at December 12, 2024 11:16 AM (CIS44)

42 What would be required in order for “ public” lands to be sold off to private individuals/entities??? A great curse we bear is the Feds owning so much of America. From this, much evil flows.

Posted by: tubal at December 12, 2024 11:16 AM (4GXOe)

43 I just hope Milei cracks down on the Nazi penguins burrowing underneath his country.
Posted by: Guy who is very concerned about the Nazi penguins

He'll do like the Pope during the First Crusade did, and send them to conquer the Falklands.

Posted by: Bulg at December 12, 2024 11:16 AM (v6JzV)

44 What would be required today to approach some sort of parity with that time? 95% marginal tax rates? $5/gallon gas tax?

hmmm.... *takes notes*

Posted by: gavin newsome at December 12, 2024 11:16 AM (v3pYe)

45 Tim Young@TimRunsHisMouth
A CNN poll says Americans overwhelmingly support Trump and his transition moves.
Let me repeat that... a CNN poll.
The tide has turned.

-
A sea change.

“Full fathom five thy father lies,
Of his bones are coral made,
Those are pearls that were his eyes,
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea change,
into something rich and strange,
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell,
Ding-dong.
Hark! now I hear them, ding-dong, bell.”

-

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Peppermint Mocha! at December 12, 2024 11:16 AM (L/fGl)

46 Do what Musk did at Twitter… didn’t he fire something like 60% of the staff and the app didn’t suffer at all. In Fed guv I think you could fire 80%
Posted by: LinusVanPelt at December 12, 2024 11:15 AM (6RwsA)

Started at like 65-70 and it grew to 80 I believe.

Posted by: BruceWayne at December 12, 2024 11:17 AM (CIS44)

47 If you want cheery reading, read "The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047", which is a future history of an American family after the dollar loses its status as the world's reserve currency and collapses.

1922 Germany brought to 21st Century America.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at December 12, 2024 11:17 AM (uxCna)

48 Trump won't touch SS or Medicare or Vet benefits...he just won't. It's not in him.

He may go after Medicaid, SNAP, and Welfare, but those do pale in size...and yet, even getting these under control would help. Every drop will kick the can down the road farther for collapse...
Posted by: Nova Local at December 12, 2024

***
He was talking about lifting the tax on SS benefits; if he can, more money in our pockets.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 12, 2024 11:17 AM (J2vNu)

49 In Fed guv I think you could fire 80%
Posted by: LinusVanPelt at December 12, 2024 11:15 AM (6RwsA)

95%.

And by "fire" we should mean "set on...".

Posted by: Robert at December 12, 2024 11:17 AM (UzLzx)

50 Only way this happens in the US is if the medical monopolies are destroyed. Medicare/Medicaid are 75% of the problem.
Posted by: Alt Numlock

Force the medical system to publish pricing. That will bring prices down dramatically, as happened with cosmetic surgery. I'm not sure who was bought off to allow them to refuse to post prices.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at December 12, 2024 11:17 AM (OwXJq)

51 31 DRONES!

the arcane magick that makes bagpipes work

Posted by: anachronda at December 12, 2024 11:18 AM (v3pYe)

52 40 Do what Musk did at Twitter… didn’t he fire something like 60% of the staff and the app didn’t suffer at all. In Fed guv I think you could fire 80%
Posted by: LinusVanPelt at December 12, 2024 11:15 AM (6RwsA)

=======

Twitter isn't protected by civil service laws.

As a side note: I feel like civil service laws that protect government employees from termination by elected officials are blatantly unconstitutional.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, trying to figure out Joel Schumacher at December 12, 2024 11:18 AM (cD1dp)

53 39 I see Janet Yellen expressed minor disappointment she didn't do "more" to cut the debt/deficit.

And by more I think she means any.

Posted by: 18-1 at December 12, 2024 11:15 AM (oZhjI

It was only $15 Trillion dollars.....

Plenty more where that came from.

Posted by: Stateless at December 12, 2024 11:18 AM (jvJvP)

54 I'm not sure who was bought off to allow them to refuse to post prices.

How DO they get away with it?

Posted by: Congress at December 12, 2024 11:19 AM (NCclz)

55 I agree with this in theory. But there is zero -- ZERO -- appetite from voters to do anything about the deficit or the debt. They just don't care. If voters don't care, then the government certainly doesn't give a flying rat's ass.

It's like it's 2 am at a Diddy party and everyone is drunk, high as fuck, and bleeding from their assholes -- but they're all still partying and doing blow off hookers' asses like it's 1999. "More yayo, yo!!!!!"

We'll be lucky if Trump doesn't increase the deficit and debt.

Posted by: The Blade's Herald at December 12, 2024 11:19 AM (iFTx/)

56 DOGE might just help save us and transform the country.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at December 12, 2024 11:19 AM (Mz7SJ)

57 55 I agree with this in theory. But there is zero -- ZERO -- appetite from voters to do anything about the deficit or the debt. They just don't care. If voters don't care, then the government certainly doesn't give a flying rat's ass.

It's like it's 2 am at a Diddy party and everyone is drunk, high as fuck, and bleeding from their assholes -- but they're all still partying and doing blow off hookers' asses like it's 1999. "More yayo, yo!!!!!"

We'll be lucky if Trump doesn't increase the deficit and debt.
Posted by: The Blade's Herald at December 12, 2024 11:19 AM (iFTx/)

=======

"Cut theirs, not mine."

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, trying to figure out Joel Schumacher at December 12, 2024 11:19 AM (cD1dp)

58 33 I just hope Milei cracks down on the Nazi penguins burrowing underneath his country.
Posted by: Guy who is very concerned about the Nazi penguins

This is the kind of disinformation and Hate Speech I have resolved to fight against with every resource available to the VOA.

Posted by: Kari Lake at December 12, 2024 11:19 AM (G5+As)

59 OMG noooooo!

Jesse Morgan@Jesse_Morgan_
BREAKING: Concerns are rising among military officials that Pete Hegseth, if confirmed as Secretary of Defense, could dismiss up to 20 “woke” generals and high-ranking officers.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Peppermint Mocha! at December 12, 2024 11:20 AM (L/fGl)

60 4 Where is everyone?
Posted by: Bulg at December 12, 2024 11:02 AM (v6JzV)

My phone failed to charge so I'm really late.
Wakes up.
Scrateches.
etc...etc...

Posted by: Diogenes at December 12, 2024 11:20 AM (W/lyH)

61 As a side note: I feel like civil service laws that protect government employees from termination by elected officials are blatantly unconstitutional.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison

Agreed.

Posted by: Bulg at December 12, 2024 11:21 AM (v6JzV)

62 Started at like 65-70 and it grew to 80 I believe.

It turned out that a lot of the headcount at Twitter was censors and DEI hires. (The DEI hires liked to post videos explaining how wonderful their day was at Twitter, and how little work they did.)

Musk fired them all - there was a picture of Musk with the technical staff post-purge, and it was overwhelmingly young Asian males.

Not a single obvious tranny in the bunch.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at December 12, 2024 11:21 AM (uxCna)

63 Twitter isn't protected by civil service laws.

As a side note: I feel like civil service laws that protect government employees from termination by elected officials are blatantly unconstitutional.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, trying to figure out Joel Schumacher at December 12, 2024 11:18 AM (cD1dp)

Thank you President Chester Arthur (sarc)

Posted by: LinusVanPelt at December 12, 2024 11:21 AM (i5Vkf)

64 Jesse Morgan@Jesse_Morgan_
BREAKING: Concerns are rising among military officials that Pete Hegseth, if confirmed as Secretary of Defense, could dismiss up to 20 “woke” generals and high-ranking officers.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Peppermint Mocha! at December 12, 2024 11:20 AM (L/fGl)

I'd call that a good start.

Posted by: Diogenes at December 12, 2024 11:21 AM (W/lyH)

65 My personal pet peeve: defund public television and NPR
Posted by: LinusVanPelt

This.

Subsiding a mincing Brooks and Capehart on Friday evenings should mean an automatic primary for every GOPe who votes for it.

Posted by: Auspex at December 12, 2024 11:21 AM (j4U/Z)

66 Jesse Morgan@Jesse_Morgan_
BREAKING: Concerns are rising among military officials that Pete Hegseth, if confirmed as Secretary of Defense, could dismiss up to 20 “woke” generals and high-ranking officers.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Peppermint Mocha! at December 12, 2024 11:20 AM

Oh, no!

Anyway....

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at December 12, 2024 11:21 AM (kgE5c)

67 But I don’t think he’d have an inclination to touch entitlements which are a huge percentage of guv outlays

Posted by: LinusVanPelt at December 12, 2024 11:12 AM (6RwsA)

I agree. But there is so much low-hanging fruit to be picked, starting with the vile Covid spending, that he could significantly decrease the federal budget.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at December 12, 2024 11:21 AM (d9fT1)

68 BREAKING: Concerns are rising among military officials that Pete Hegseth, if confirmed as Secretary of Defense, could dismiss up to 20 “woke” generals and high-ranking officers.

I will be very disappointed

If it is only 20.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at December 12, 2024 11:22 AM (OwXJq)

69 As a side note: I feel like civil service laws that protect government employees from termination by elected officials are blatantly unconstitutional.

Who said anything about termination?

Posted by: Barrow, Alaska Federal Works Program at December 12, 2024 11:22 AM (NCclz)

70 Jesse Morgan@Jesse_Morgan_
BREAKING: Concerns are rising among military officials that Pete Hegseth, if confirmed as Secretary of Defense, could dismiss up to 20 “woke” generals and high-ranking officers.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Peppermint Mocha! at December 12, 2024 11:20 AM (L/fGl)

You gotta pump those numbers up, those are rookie numbers.

Posted by: BruceWayne at December 12, 2024 11:22 AM (CIS44)

71 67 I agree. But there is so much low-hanging fruit to be picked, starting with the vile Covid spending, that he could significantly decrease the federal budget.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at December 12, 2024 11:21 AM (d9fT1)

======

Isn't TARP still in every CR that's been passed since 2008?

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, trying to figure out Joel Schumacher at December 12, 2024 11:22 AM (cD1dp)

72 Penguins on drones!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Peppermint Mocha! at December 12, 2024 11:22 AM (L/fGl)

73 Only way this happens in the US is if the medical monopolies are destroyed. Medicare/Medicaid are 75% of the problem.

Posted by: Alt Numlock at December 12, 2024 11:09 AM (W9ktR)
==
There is no appetite for touching Medicare with the American public, let alone the political establishment.

SS is essentially self funded - you could fix the retirement age guidelines to deal with any funding blip.

There will have to be another way.

Posted by: Black JEM at December 12, 2024 11:22 AM (GZYu7)

74
I, for one, am looking forward to the sound of dropped and broken rice bowls among the illuminati in Washington DC.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 12, 2024 11:22 AM (xG4kz)

75 "My personal pet peeve: defund public television and NPR
Posted by: LinusVanPelt

Let me add the Ad Council.

Posted by: fd at December 12, 2024 11:22 AM (vFG9F)

76 BREAKING: Concerns are rising among military officials that Pete Hegseth, if confirmed as Secretary of Defense, could dismiss up to 20 “woke” generals and high-ranking officers.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Peppermint Mocha! at December 12, 2024 11:20 AM (L/fGl
=======================
hahahaha!

because after that comes the Day 2 firings.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at December 12, 2024 11:22 AM (Mz7SJ)

77 often symbolized by his wielding a chainsaw

We need the chainsaw to be non-symbolic. Make the wastrels fear the sound.

Posted by: NR Pax at December 12, 2024 11:23 AM (NR6c1)

78 64 When you have a LtGen acting as a press secretary and giving briefings, you may have a problem.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at December 12, 2024 11:23 AM (gm9Sb)

79 Jesse Morgan@Jesse_Morgan_
BREAKING: Concerns are rising among military officials that Pete Hegseth, if confirmed as Secretary of Defense, could dismiss up to 20 “woke” generals and high-ranking officers.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks

Only 20? Dude, he has to step it up.

Posted by: Tonypete at December 12, 2024 11:23 AM (WXNFJ)

80 In south america, Argentina is looked down on, for its continual economic problems and the fact that they talk funny .
They all will hate Argentina more since Milei just showed it is possible to get a deficit under control without all the austerity and haircuts and defaults.

Argentina is still having problems, though. Lots and lots of political infighting.

Posted by: Kindltot at December 12, 2024 11:23 AM (D7oie)

81 Is Trump still mulling over some "inner city rehabilitation" efforts for NYC and Washington D.C.? He mentioned both cities with a desire to do some major cleaning up. Huge sums of federal monies.

In my opinion, a phenomenal waste of money and an sure fire way to increase federal graft.

If he's still jonesing on that he needs a swift kick in the balls.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at December 12, 2024 11:23 AM (Q4IgG)

82 BREAKING: Concerns are rising among military officials that Pete Hegseth, if confirmed as Secretary of Defense, could dismiss up to 20 “woke” generals and high-ranking officers.

This is about me, isn't it?

Posted by: The Commadant At West Point! at December 12, 2024 11:24 AM (uxCna)

83 Really, allowing glub to take a four-bagger inside-the-park home run at the top of this thread redounds to our everlasting shame. Be better, posters!

Posted by: Weakly Reader at December 12, 2024 11:24 AM (G5+As)

84 64 BREAKING: Concerns are rising among military officials that Pete Hegseth, if confirmed as Secretary of Defense, could dismiss up to 20 “woke” generals and high-ranking officers.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks

I'll see your 20 and raise you 40.

Posted by: Auspex at December 12, 2024 11:24 AM (j4U/Z)

85 Jesse Morgan@Jesse_Morgan_
BREAKING: Concerns are rising among military officials that Pete Hegseth, if confirmed as Secretary of Defense, could dismiss up to 20 “woke” generals and high-ranking officers.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Peppermint Mocha! at December 12, 2024 11:20 AM (L/fGl)

You gotta pump those numbers up, those are rookie numbers.
Posted by: BruceWayne at December 12, 2024 11:22 AM (CIS44)

"Concerns"? You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Posted by: LASue at December 12, 2024 11:24 AM (lCppi)

86 Force the medical system to publish pricing. That will bring prices down dramatically, as happened with cosmetic surgery. I'm not sure who was bought off to allow them to refuse to post prices.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at December 12, 2024 11:17 AM (OwXJq)
==
It sounds good. But won't help. The reason cosmetic prices fall is because there is no insurance for it. All the money comes out of the patient's pocket. The price charged has to provide value to the consumer.

Posted by: Black JEM at December 12, 2024 11:24 AM (GZYu7)

87 "Cut theirs, not mine."
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, trying to figure out Joel Schumacher at December 12, 2024 11:19 AM (cD1dp)

That is the US voter motto.

Posted by: Nova Local at December 12, 2024 11:24 AM (exHjb)

88 Whenever we talk about gov't spending one of the first things anyone ever brings up is entitlements are 100% of spending, yadda yadda... so don't bother.

Since 2008, there hasn't even been a budget. each year they just pass % increases to everything.
There is so much fat to cut... why don't we just start the chainsaw up and see where it lands ok?

I'm starting to believe that argument is only to get people to back off 3rd rails...

Posted by: Inogame at December 12, 2024 11:25 AM (53oGX)

89 Who was that general arguing with (and lying to) Sen John Kennedy of LA? Fire him Hegseth. Of course he appeared in mufti so probably retired already

Posted by: LinusVanPelt at December 12, 2024 11:25 AM (i5Vkf)

90 The only thing that's going to make a noticeable dent in our spending is reigning in entitlement spending. The majority of the money is not being spent on operating the government--it's going out in handouts: SS, Medicare, welfare, and who knows what else. Expect all the pigs feeding at those troughs to start stampeding next year, if DOGE is even brave enough to touch that stuff.

Posted by: Tinfoil Dispenser at December 12, 2024 11:25 AM (Ij2uN)

91 Unless intelligence, defense and deep state spending, ie the billions of foreign aid and payoffs are reigned in, won't mean much. PBS and shit like that are peanuts.

Posted by: From about That Time at December 12, 2024 11:25 AM (4780s)

92 Think what Donald Trump can do in four years, and then realize that no economic policy, no government program, no deficit spending can revive an economy faster than simply allowing the people to make their own economic decisions. That's what deficit reduction allows, and that is the glory of the free market.

Amen. My personal policy has been to invest, live in the black, and not be a burden to others. Apply this with rigor to the Federal government and it should follow that a newly revived generational national wealth will set the foundation, the conditions for a ripe expansion of individual generational wealth and liberty. Except for Elizabeth Warren, Indian princess extraordinaire, since she already got hers the old fashioned way by being a burden to everyone else.

Posted by: Altaria Pilgram at December 12, 2024 11:25 AM (e+6P0)

93 It sounds good. But won't help. The reason cosmetic prices fall is because there is no insurance for it. All the money comes out of the patient's pocket. The price charged has to provide value to the consumer.
Posted by: Black JEM

Hmmmmm. There seems to be a valuable lesson in there. I wonder what it could be?

Posted by: Tonypete at December 12, 2024 11:26 AM (WXNFJ)

94 I agree with this in theory. But there is zero -- ZERO -- appetite from voters to do anything about the deficit or the debt. They just don't care. If voters don't care, then the government certainly doesn't give a flying rat's ass.

It's like it's 2 am at a Diddy party and everyone is drunk, high as fuck, and bleeding from their assholes -- but they're all still partying and doing blow off hookers' asses like it's 1999. "More yayo, yo!!!!!"

We'll be lucky if Trump doesn't increase the deficit and debt.
Posted by: The Blade's Herald at December 12, 2024 11:19 AM (iFTx/)

=======

"Cut theirs, not mine."
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, trying to figure out Joel Schumacher at December 12, 2024 11:19 AM (cD1dp)
______

Exactly. There might be some token fat to cut here and there, but no actual substantial cuts will be made. And it's the voters' fault. Our fault. We collectively just don't care, or at least not enough for debt-drunk politicians to spend any political capital on it. Plus, voters have been hearing for decades that The End is Near when it comes to deficit spending. They've tuned it all out. All they hear is loud music and moaning hookers.

Posted by: The Blade's Herald at December 12, 2024 11:26 AM (iFTx/)

95 It turned out that a lot of the headcount at Twitter was censors and DEI hires. (The DEI hires liked to post videos explaining how wonderful their day was at Twitter, and how little work they did.)

Posted by: The ARC of History! at December 12, 2024 11:21 AM

My agency just notified us all of the hiring of our new DEI coordinator. The resume is everything you'd expect. Yay, us.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at December 12, 2024 11:26 AM (kgE5c)

96 Only way this happens in the US is if the medical monopolies are destroyed. Medicare/Medicaid are 75% of the problem.
Posted by: Alt Numlock

Force the medical system to publish pricing. That will bring prices down dramatically, as happened with cosmetic surgery. I'm not sure who was bought off to allow them to refuse to post prices.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at December 12, 2024 11:17 AM (OwXJq)

My surgery in the beginning of the year was 300K. The surgeon, the dude who pulled me out of the grave, was 7K. I might have had 5-6 nurses during my stay, and a handful of people in the OR. you could have given 7K to each of them and not broke 100K. The hospital got well over 200K to babysit me for 6 days.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at December 12, 2024 11:26 AM (VwHCD)

97 Eric Daugherty@EricLDaugh
BREAKING: Trump names Kari Lake as Director of the "Voice of America," a state-funded international broadcasting network.
Trump says she will help spread American values "around the world" - "unlike the lies spread by the fake news media."
Lake is a former TV anchor.

-
Wait. I thought Taylor Swift was the voice of America.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Peppermint Mocha! at December 12, 2024 11:26 AM (L/fGl)

98 Is it too soon to go off-topic? If so, sorry.

On the ONT, Ciampino linked to the UK Daily Mail story with the headline:

New twist in Nancy Mace 'assault' as witnesses reveal fresh details

https://mol.im/a/14184103

So, I dig through the article and get down to paragraph 8:

But now eye witnesses are coming forward saying they don't buy Mace's recollection of events.

I scroll past a bunch of pictures looking for those "eye witnesses," and find the next paragraph:

'From what I saw, it was a normal handshake and interaction that I would expect any legislator to expect from anyone as a constituent,' Elliott Hinkle, LGBT advocate Elliot Hinkle told The Imprint.
(([sic] on the double Hinkle.))

Unless I missed it, that was the only mention of any "eye witnesses" coming forward.

'You don't hate the corporate media enough,' she said. The Mail did their best to illustrate that, looks like.
_____

'One new brace for my wrist and some ice for my arm and it’ll heal just fine,' Mace posted on social media. I’m going to be fine just as soon as the pain and soreness subside.'

Michelle Fields sends a sympathy card.

Posted by: mindful webworker - disarming at December 12, 2024 11:26 AM (84HHu)

99
Concerns are rising among military officials that Pete Hegseth, if confirmed as Secretary of Defense, could dismiss up to 20 “woke” generals and high-ranking officers.

Why the concern? It's not like Secretary Hegseth would have each one of them buried up to their necks in sand and then pour honey over their heads while releasing whole colonies of fire ants in their midst...

...but come to think of it, it would be good if he did.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 12, 2024 11:26 AM (xG4kz)

100 I agree with this in theory. But there is zero -- ZERO -- appetite from voters to do anything about the deficit or the debt. They just don't care. If voters don't care, then the government certainly doesn't give a flying rat's ass.

The goal shouldn't be general spending cuts.

The goal should be cutting all spending that goes mostly to the left, paired with as many taxes as you can pass that mostly target the left.

Tax and spending policies are weapons. Time we start using them

Posted by: 18-1 at December 12, 2024 11:27 AM (oZhjI)

101 The only thing that's going to make a noticeable dent in our spending is reigning in entitlement spending. The majority of the money is not being spent on operating the government--it's going out in handouts: SS, Medicare, welfare, and who knows what else. Expect all the pigs feeding at those troughs to start stampeding next year, if DOGE is even brave enough to touch that stuff.

Posted by: Tinfoil Dispenser at December 12, 2024 11:25 AM (Ij2uN)
==
SS is self funded - fix the SSDI boondoggle Obama opened up, and raise the full benefit retirement age. I'd love to see it privatized, because the return off of SS is ridiculously low.

Posted by: Black JEM at December 12, 2024 11:27 AM (GZYu7)

102 93 It sounds good. But won't help. The reason cosmetic prices fall is because there is no insurance for it. All the money comes out of the patient's pocket. The price charged has to provide value to the consumer.
Posted by: Black JEM

Hmmmmm. There seems to be a valuable lesson in there. I wonder what it could be?
Posted by: Tonypete at December 12, 2024 11:26 AM (WXNFJ)

Being ugly doesn't kill you?

Posted by: Nova Local at December 12, 2024 11:27 AM (exHjb)

103 I wouldn't care how much the gubbmint spent (except for the stupid stuff) as long as they had more money coming in than going out. Like a successful business model, one that would be concocted by, say, a Wharton graduate that went on to success in business.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at December 12, 2024 11:27 AM (gm9Sb)

104 This David H. Berger, retired Commandant of the Marine Corps: Was he woke or traitorous like this guy Milley?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 12, 2024 11:28 AM (J2vNu)

105 Really, allowing glub to take a four-bagger inside-the-park home run at the top of this thread redounds to our everlasting shame. Be better, posters!
Posted by: Weakly Reader

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Posted by: Bulg at December 12, 2024 11:28 AM (v6JzV)

106 It can be done! And, I hope Trump leads the US in doing the same.
Posted by: Ann at December 12, 2024 11:03 AM (4neFu)

Nope.

Posted by: The Senate GOPe Caucus at December 12, 2024 11:28 AM (muwun)

107 BREAKING: Concerns are rising among military officials that Pete Hegseth, if confirmed as Secretary of Defense, could dismiss up to 20 “woke” generals and high-ranking officers.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Peppermint Mocha! at December 12, 2024 11:20 AM (L/fGl
__________

I think there's a missing zero in that number.

Posted by: Elric The Blade at December 12, 2024 11:28 AM (iFTx/)

108 Force the medical system to publish pricing. That will bring prices down dramatically, as happened with cosmetic surgery. I'm not sure who was bought off to allow them to refuse to post prices.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at December 12, 2024 11:17 AM (OwXJq)

Trump tried to get this last time. It's complete bullshit that it didn't happen. I hope that Musk's ownership of X will make it harder for Congress to ignore/fight obviously rational ideas.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at December 12, 2024 11:28 AM (ExV1e)

109 Also, reigning in that shit has little effect on actual American citizens, who get squat out of it. Job losses other than gov't workers easily replaced by real infrastructure, hard not administrative, projects at far less cost.

Posted by: From about That Time at December 12, 2024 11:29 AM (4780s)

110 >>Concerns are rising among military officials that Pete Hegseth, if confirmed as Secretary of Defense, could dismiss up to 20 “woke” generals and high-ranking officers.

Don't be silly.

They will be court martialed.

Posted by: garrett at December 12, 2024 11:29 AM (j6KoD)

111 Being ugly doesn't kill you?
Posted by: Nova Local at December 12, 2024

***
If it did, the world would look like Stephen King's The Stand after the superflu!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 12, 2024 11:29 AM (J2vNu)

112 Obama purged the military of conservatives.

The generals now are the people promoted by the Obama generals.

Time to return the favor.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at December 12, 2024 11:29 AM (uxCna)

113 It sounds good. But won't help. The reason cosmetic prices fall is because there is no insurance for it. All the money comes out of the patient's pocket. The price charged has to provide value to the consumer.
Posted by: Black JEM

Hmmmmm. There seems to be a valuable lesson in there. I wonder what it could be?

Posted by: Tonypete at December 12, 2024 11:26 AM (WXNFJ)
==
Lol! Yeah, maybe health insurance should go back to being insurance, and not pre-paid health care.

Posted by: Black JEM at December 12, 2024 11:29 AM (GZYu7)

114 I demand more anti-racist bridges!

Posted by: BruceWayne at December 12, 2024 11:29 AM (CIS44)

115 79 Jesse Morgan@Jesse_Morgan_
BREAKING: Concerns are rising among military officials that Pete Hegseth, if confirmed as Secretary of Defense, could dismiss up to 20 “woke” generals and high-ranking officers.

Well, said generals should have focused more on killing our enemies and breaking their stuff instead of pronouns.

Only 20? Dude, he has to step it up.

Maybe he is giving them time to resign.

Posted by: NR Pax at December 12, 2024 11:29 AM (NR6c1)

116 94 Exactly. There might be some token fat to cut here and there, but no actual substantial cuts will be made. And it's the voters' fault. Our fault. We collectively just don't care, or at least not enough for debt-drunk politicians to spend any political capital on it. Plus, voters have been hearing for decades that The End is Near when it comes to deficit spending. They've tuned it all out. All they hear is loud music and moaning hookers.
Posted by: The Blade's Herald at December 12, 2024 11:26 AM (iFTx/)

=======

Our great moment was 2016 when Paul Ryan, budget hawk, who was going to be VP at some point, became Speaker with a Republican president.

It was the potential for the libertarian moment in terms of spending within the GOP and the federal government.

And Paul Ryan refused to cut any spending, or to return to budgetary order, all because he couldn't stomach the idea of $5 billion for a border wall.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, trying to figure out Joel Schumacher at December 12, 2024 11:29 AM (cD1dp)

117 The problem will likely get worse before it gets better. New technologies are lowering the barrier to entry into the homemade ghost gun game. AI chatbots can even provide assistance to novices, even if they won’t help directly. Ask Microsoft’s Copilot to tell you how to build a 3D printed gun, and it’ll say it can’t because “creating 3D printed firearms involves significant legal and safety risks.” But if you ask Copilot for guides on making 3D-printed firearms, you’ll get a host of links to “comprehensive” online manuals for manufacturing the weapons at home.

Posted by: SMOD at December 12, 2024 11:29 AM (RHGPo)

118 Jesse Morgan@Jesse_Morgan_
BREAKING: Concerns are rising among military officials that Pete Hegseth, if confirmed as Secretary of Defense, could dismiss up to 20 “woke” generals and high-ranking officers.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Peppermint Mocha! at December 12, 2024 11:20 AM (L/fGl)

That is concerning. I'd hope the number would be much higher.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at December 12, 2024 11:30 AM (ExV1e)

119
"A Pardon for you! And a Pardon for you! And... aww, just a commuted sentence."

Posted by: Auspex at December 12, 2024 11:30 AM (j4U/Z)

120 Don’t wanna throw a turd in the punch bowl, but has anyone else noticed that Trump hasn’t shown much appetite for budget cuts?

That was true in his first term and we'll just have to wait to see if it remains true in his second. Certainly there was no serious support for budget cutting from the legislative side then either. I'm hopeful that Congress sees the writing on the wall and cuts spending even if it's just to save their own worthless skins. Also, I'm hopeful that Trump lets Elon and Vivek do the job he's assigned to them instead of micromanaging it and overriding them on everything which is always a possibility. The only thing I know for sure is that whatever happens, it would have been worse under a Harris administration.

Posted by: The Dread Pirate Englebert at December 12, 2024 11:30 AM (/y8xj)

121 /sock

Posted by: Oddbob at December 12, 2024 11:31 AM (/y8xj)

122 This is about me, isn't it?
Posted by: The Commadant At West Point! at December 12, 2024 11:24 AM

If it isn't, it should be. And get the Dean on the carpet here while you're waiting.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at December 12, 2024 11:31 AM (kgE5c)

123 It sounds good. But won't help. The reason cosmetic prices fall is because there is no insurance for it. All the money comes out of the patient's pocket. The price charged has to provide value to the consumer.
Posted by: Black JEM

That is the whole point. Medical costs are outrageous because the person getting the service doesn't pay for it or even see the bill. Make them publish pricing and bring on competition.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at December 12, 2024 11:31 AM (OwXJq)

124 Jesse Morgan@Jesse_Morgan_
BREAKING: Concerns are rising among military officials that Pete Hegseth, if confirmed as Secretary of Defense, could dismiss up to 20 “woke” generals and high-ranking officers.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Peppermint Mocha! at December 12, 2024 11:20 AM (L/fGl)

They left out, "before breakfast."

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at December 12, 2024 11:31 AM (muwun)

125 Force the medical system to publish pricing. That will bring prices down dramatically, as happened with cosmetic surgery. I'm not sure who was bought off to allow them to refuse to post prices.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at December 12, 2024 11:17 AM (OwXJq)
==
It sounds good. But won't help. The reason cosmetic prices fall is because there is no insurance for it. All the money comes out of the patient's pocket. The price charged has to provide value to the consumer.
Posted by: Black JEM at December 12, 2024 11:24 AM (GZYu7)

Ben Shapiro succinctly provided a solution to the issue: Most medicine should be pay as you go, with regular visits and normal care priced at some reasonable (actual) rate. (We paid for an MRI ten years ago - not covered - and the rate went down from $10k or so if insured, to something like $1,200 when we paid out of pocket- they even negotiated with us. ).
Insurance generally should be for catastrophic health events. Like as in "insurance" against a catastrophic loss. Also (my addition) emergency rooms should be not available for non-emergencies, colds, flu, sniffles, shots, hangnails, etc.

Posted by: LASue at December 12, 2024 11:31 AM (lCppi)

126 120 Don’t wanna throw a turd in the punch bowl, but has anyone else noticed that Trump hasn’t shown much appetite for budget cuts?

That was true in his first term and we'll just have to wait to see if it remains true in his second. Certainly there was no serious support for budget cutting from the legislative side then either. I'm hopeful that Congress sees the writing on the wall and cuts spending even if it's just to save their own worthless skins. Also, I'm hopeful that Trump lets Elon and Vivek do the job he's assigned to them instead of micromanaging it and overriding them on everything which is always a possibility. The only thing I know for sure is that whatever happens, it would have been worse under a Harris administration.
Posted by: The Dread Pirate Englebert at December 12, 2024 11:30 AM (/y8xj)

You would think someone would grab Rand Paul's last 5 years of Festivus postings and if any are still being funded, just cut them all. Rand had the low hanging fruit nailed every year, so the work has been done...

Posted by: Nova Local at December 12, 2024 11:31 AM (exHjb)

127 125 Ben Shapiro succinctly provided a solution to the issue: Most medicine should be pay as you go, with regular visits and normal care priced at some reasonable (actual) rate. (We paid for an MRI ten years ago - not covered - and the rate went down from $10k or so if insured, to something like $1,200 when we paid out of pocket- they even negotiated with us. ).
Insurance generally should be for catastrophic health events. Like as in "insurance" against a catastrophic loss. Also (my addition) emergency rooms should be not available for non-emergencies, colds, flu, sniffles, shots, hangnails, etc.
Posted by: LASue at December 12, 2024 11:31 AM (lCppi)

=======

This is a long held line of thinking that health insurance should mirror car insurance.

Insurance doesn't pay for oil changes.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, trying to figure out Joel Schumacher at December 12, 2024 11:32 AM (cD1dp)

128 I want Hegseth's purge of the military to be, shall we say, "Stalinesque."

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at December 12, 2024 11:32 AM (muwun)

129 >>I wouldn't care how much the gubbmint spent (except for the stupid stuff) as long as they had more money coming in than going out.

I don't think any government should be able to co-opt more than 20% of your life in order to fund itself.

Honestly, I think 10% is asking too much.
But I am willing to cap total Taxation at no more than 20% total.

This includes State and Local Taxation.
And I believe that our system begs to have Local Taxation receive Priority. Then State. Then Federal.

Posted by: garrett at December 12, 2024 11:32 AM (j6KoD)

130 Sitting here reading everyone’s Christmas list of what we want Trump to do when he takes office and started to think “ we are setting ourselves up for disappointment”… but then it hit me … hell YES we ought to have a Christmas list… we elected him and have stuck with him all this time.. plus, he works for US, not the other way round… so, produce Donald, that’s what you are there for.

Posted by: tubal at December 12, 2024 11:33 AM (4GXOe)

131 Exactly. There might be some token fat to cut here and there, but no actual substantial cuts will be made. And it's the voters' fault. Our fault. We collectively just don't care, or at least not enough for debt-drunk politicians to spend any political capital on it. Plus, voters have been hearing for decades that The End is Near when it comes to deficit spending. They've tuned it all out. All they hear is loud music and moaning hookers.
Posted by: The Blade's Herald at December 12, 2024 11:26 AM (iFTx/)

=======

Our great moment was 2016 when Paul Ryan, budget hawk, who was going to be VP at some point, became Speaker with a Republican president.

It was the potential for the libertarian moment in terms of spending within the GOP and the federal government.

And Paul Ryan refused to cut any spending, or to return to budgetary order, all because he could stomach the idea of $5 billion for a border wall.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, trying to figure out Joel Schumacher at December 12, 2024 11:29 AM (cD1dp)
______

Yup. But at least Ryan was punished for such intransigence! Oh wait, no he wasn't. He was promoted to VP.

Posted by: Elric The Blade at December 12, 2024 11:33 AM (iFTx/)

132 This is about me, isn't it?
Posted by: The Commadant At West Point!

If it isn't, it should be. And get the Dean on the carpet here while you're waiting.
Posted by: RedMindBlueState

Didn't GEN Robin Olds have trouble with the higher ups when he was Superintendent of the USAFA? iirc, he said 'fuck it' and resigned.

Posted by: Tonypete at December 12, 2024 11:33 AM (WXNFJ)

133 Relax, everybody. Speaks With Forked Tongue is not a crazy ass horse warrior ghost dancer.

Igor Bobic@igorbobic
New: Sen. Warren is clarifying her remarks on the UnitedHealthcare CEO's killing and the response to it.
“Violence is never the answer. Period. I should have been much clearer that there is never a justification for murder,” she said in a statement

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Peppermint Mocha! at December 12, 2024 11:33 AM (L/fGl)

134 I don't think any government should be able to co-opt more than 20% of your life in order to fund itself.

Honestly, I think 10% is asking too much.
But I am willing to cap total Taxation at no more than 20% total.

This includes State and Local Taxation.
And I believe that our system begs to have Local Taxation receive Priority. Then State. Then Federal.

Posted by: garrett at December 12, 2024 11:32 AM (j6KoD)

This sounds "insurectiony"

Posted by: BruceWayne at December 12, 2024 11:33 AM (CIS44)

135 Exactly. There might be some token fat to cut here and there, but no actual substantial cuts will be made. And it's the voters' fault. Our fault. We collectively just don't care, or at least not enough for debt-drunk politicians to spend any political capital on it. Plus, voters have been hearing for decades that The End is Near when it comes to deficit spending. They've tuned it all out. All they hear is loud music and moaning hookers.

Posted by: The Blade's Herald at December 12, 2024 11:26 AM (iFTx/)
==
So you have to reduce the size of government in areas they do not directly feel. SS and Medicare they feel. Overlapping bureaucracies giving our billion dollar grants to left wing NGO's they don't feel. You can cut lost of that crap out immediately, and it does add up, plus reduces staff,and starts the process of prying the government out of everyday life.

Posted by: Black JEM at December 12, 2024 11:33 AM (GZYu7)

136 Republican Reps. Adrian Smith of Nebraska and Chuck Edwards of North Carolina sent a letter to the president-elect on Tuesday urging him to end the program via executive order, saying that the program poses a "threat to taxpayers' freedom from government overreach."

The letter was signed by 27 other Republicans and is also addressed to Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the co-leads of DOGE.

Smith and Edwards argued in their letter that the program represents a conflict of interest for the IRS — that the agency should not be in charge of both assessing taxes and enforcing tax crimes. The duo wrote that the agency "has little incentive to ensure hardworking Americans do not pay more than they owe in taxes."

Posted by: SMOD at December 12, 2024 11:33 AM (RHGPo)

137 This is a long held line of thinking that health insurance should mirror car insurance.

Insurance doesn't pay for oil changes.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, trying to figure out Joel Schumacher at December 12, 2024 11:32 AM (cD1dp)

Car insurance payouts are limited to car worth and then chosen ceilings.

Gonna be hard to do "person worth" especially since as a person gets older, their legal worth plummets...and that's when they accrue most of the bills...

Posted by: Nova Local at December 12, 2024 11:33 AM (exHjb)

138 131 Yup. But at least Ryan was punished for such intransigence! Oh wait, no he wasn't. He was promoted to VP.
Posted by: Elric The Blade at December 12, 2024 11:33 AM (iFTx/)

======

Timeline seems a bit mixed up there.

His reward was becoming a millionaire and put on the board of Fox News.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, trying to figure out Joel Schumacher at December 12, 2024 11:34 AM (cD1dp)

139 I want Hegseth's purge of the military to be, shall we say, "Stalinesque."
Posted by: Cicero

Except that most of the officers that Stalin purged were actually competent.

Posted by: Bulg at December 12, 2024 11:34 AM (v6JzV)

140 There is no appetite for touching Medicare with the American public, let alone the political establishment.

Float the change as a diminishing subsidy to the seniors themselves to purchase the health insurance of their choice (after an absolute minimum amount of required coverages are set).

No reason for government to act as an insurer.
No reason for taxpayers to pay for elective procedures for seniors.
No reason for taxpayers to cover billionaires (not that they use medicare anyway).

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at December 12, 2024 11:34 AM (ExV1e)

141 Go back to the 2009 budget. See what Obama and the democrats pushed in that cost $900 billion +.
It’s still in every budget since.
Shitcan that from 2025 and every future budget.
Make a speech thanking God we can balance the budget and still spend at 2008 (adjusted for inflation)

Best part: You’re cutting costs that only democrats want.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at December 12, 2024 11:35 AM (jbnUc)

142 Israel Prepares Plans for Strike on Iran’s Nuclear Facilities After Destroying 90% of Syrian Air Defenses

Posted by: SMOD at December 12, 2024 11:35 AM (RHGPo)

143 A man who can rock a pair of red six-inch Jimmy Choo leather pumps like Gen. Milley deserves some job security, amiright people?

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at December 12, 2024 11:35 AM (muwun)

144 Except that most of the officers that Stalin purged were actually competent.
Posted by: Bulg

You have, perhaps inadvertently, described Obummer's purge.

Posted by: Tonypete at December 12, 2024 11:35 AM (WXNFJ)

145 Igor Bobic@igorbobic
New: Sen. Warren is clarifying her remarks on the UnitedHealthcare CEO's killing and the response to it.
“Violence is never the answer. Period. I should have been much clearer that there is never a justification for murder,” she said in a statement

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Peppermint Mocha! at December 12, 2024 11:33 AM (L/fGl)

Taking back her earlier statement. Something, something, Indian-Giver.

Posted by: davidt at December 12, 2024 11:36 AM (i0F8b)

146 130 Sitting here reading everyone’s Christmas list of what we want Trump to do when he takes office and started to think “ we are setting ourselves up for disappointment”… but then it hit me … hell YES we ought to have a Christmas list… we elected him and have stuck with him all this time.. plus, he works for US, not the other way round… so, produce Donald, that’s what you are there for.
Posted by: tubal at December 12, 2024 11:33 AM (4GXOe)

Personnel is Policy - and Trump is setting up a Murderer's Row of appointees.

Posted by: Tom Servo at December 12, 2024 11:36 AM (wyMQY)

147 The US government Helsinki Commission is on hallucinogens:

For over a decade, Putin deliberately displaced millions of Syrian people to create a refugee crisis aimed at destabilizing Europe.

After many years, 14 million refugees now have a chance to return home and build a better Syria that rejects the influence of foreign dictators.

LOL. As if that's going to happen.

The Syrian refugees in Turkey will return - the Turks hate Syrians and treat them like s**t.

The million Syrian "refugees" in Germany?

Nah, they're good.

They'll celebrate the fall of Assad, but only from a distance.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at December 12, 2024 11:36 AM (uxCna)

148 145 Igor Bobic@igorbobic
New: Sen. Warren is clarifying her remarks on the UnitedHealthcare CEO's killing and the response to it.
“Violence is never the answer. Period. I should have been much clearer that there is never a justification for murder,” she said in a statement

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Peppermint Mocha! at December 12, 2024 11:33 AM (L/fGl)

========

"But..." her statement continued.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, trying to figure out Joel Schumacher at December 12, 2024 11:36 AM (cD1dp)

149 The biggest opponents of Medicare changes are the insurance companies, but of course this is known. Until they are disciplined there will be no change.

Posted by: tubal at December 12, 2024 11:36 AM (4GXOe)

150 My wife threw my Saur Kraut out to make room for the turkey. Then I buy hot dogs and buns and discover her trespass. Life is not fair.

Posted by: pudinhead at December 12, 2024 11:37 AM (jFCkp)

151 128 I want Hegseth's purge of the military to be, shall we say, "Stalinesque."
Posted by: Cicero

Won't Xi see that as a sign of weakness and, like operation "Barbarossa" shell Quemoy and Matsu?

Posted by: Auspex at December 12, 2024 11:37 AM (j4U/Z)

152 New: Sen. Warren is clarifying her remarks on the UnitedHealthcare CEO's killing and the response to it.
“Violence is never the answer. Period. I should have been much clearer that there is never a justification for murder,” she said in a statement

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Peppermint Mocha! at December 12,

"BUT..."

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at December 12, 2024 11:37 AM (muwun)

153 New: Sen. Warren is clarifying her remarks on the UnitedHealthcare CEO's killing and the response to it.
“Violence is never the answer. Period. I should have been much clearer that there is never a justification for murder,” she said in a statement
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Peppermint Mocha! at December 12, 2024

***
Her Helawi or Hekawi roots are showing.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 12, 2024 11:37 AM (J2vNu)

154 140 There is no appetite for touching Medicare with the American public, let alone the political establishment.

Float the change as a diminishing subsidy to the seniors themselves to purchase the health insurance of their choice (after an absolute minimum amount of required coverages are set).

No reason for government to act as an insurer.
No reason for taxpayers to pay for elective procedures for seniors.
No reason for taxpayers to cover billionaires (not that they use medicare anyway).
Posted by: I used to have a different nic at December 12, 2024 11:34 AM (ExV1e)

If you kill Medicare, I'm not sure Ace's own audience would vote for you...it's sad to say, but see "cut yours, not mine"...

I mean, we already can't pay for the reduction to $2K for meds seniors are getting next year (can I say, as a private insurance payer paying for a ton of meds, I would love that...but nope, I'm paying for my meds and seniors' meds)...but somehow, Trump's gonna have to, or Rs will get blistered in the midterms...

Posted by: Nova Local at December 12, 2024 11:37 AM (exHjb)

155 gsergergserg

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at December 12, 2024 11:37 AM (QfD0o)

156 139
‘ Except that most of the officers that Stalin purged were actually competent.’

Hegseth won’t have to worry about making that mistake.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at December 12, 2024 11:37 AM (jbnUc)

157 The reason cosmetic prices fall is because there is no insurance for it.

Make insurance insurance again. I loathe all the signs at drug stores about "free" flu/covid/whatever shots. I'm sorry but a flu shot shouldn't cost that fucking much that you need insurance for it.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at December 12, 2024 11:37 AM (ExV1e)

158 Insurance doesn't pay for oil changes.

It also doesn't pay for engines blown up because you neglected oil changes.

Posted by: Oddbob at December 12, 2024 11:38 AM (/y8xj)

159
155 gsergergserg
Posted by: Blonde Morticia at December 12, 2024 11:37 AM (QfD0o)

==================

Read the content!

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at December 12, 2024 11:38 AM (QfD0o)

160 Read the content!
Posted by: Blonde Morticia at December 12, 2024 11:38 AM (QfD0o)

There's content?

Posted by: BruceWayne at December 12, 2024 11:38 AM (CIS44)

161 Dude, he’s just not that into you.

Tom Elliott@tomselliott
Kimmel describes how his producers are in love with the UnitedHealth murderer: “I would visit him in prison! And bake him cookies, maybe. Perhaps more …“
“I’m about to be a jailhouse bride”

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Peppermint Mocha! at December 12, 2024 11:38 AM (L/fGl)

162 The majority of the money is not being spent on operating the government--it's going out in handouts: SS, Medicare, welfare, and who knows what else.

Step 1: cut the spending to dead people and non-citizens.
Step 2: re-assess.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at December 12, 2024 11:39 AM (ExV1e)

163 So you have to reduce the size of government in areas they do not directly feel. SS and Medicare they feel. Overlapping bureaucracies giving our billion dollar grants to left wing NGO's they don't feel. You can cut lost of that crap out immediately, and it does add up, plus reduces staff,and starts the process of prying the government out of everyday life.
Posted by: Black JEM at December 12, 2024 11:33 AM (GZYu7)

Get rid of ATF and Education dep't, for starters. ATF duties can be handled by FBI and State Police agencies. Education Dep't only exists to service the Teacher's Unions, it does not one useful thing for anyone else.

Posted by: Tom Servo at December 12, 2024 11:39 AM (wyMQY)

164 Best part: You’re cutting costs that only democrats want.
-------------
You still have to mop up and retire that $5T of Biden Funny Money he printed on day 1.

Posted by: pudinhead at December 12, 2024 11:39 AM (jFCkp)

165 162 The majority of the money is not being spent on operating the government--it's going out in handouts: SS, Medicare, welfare, and who knows what else.

Step 1: cut the spending to dead people and non-citizens.
Step 2: re-assess.
Posted by: I used to have a different nic at December 12, 2024 11:39 AM (ExV1e)

=======

Step 3: Re-educate the American people about Social Security. It is not an investment. It is not an account. It is a tax and welfare.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, trying to figure out Joel Schumacher at December 12, 2024 11:39 AM (cD1dp)

166 Gonna be hard to do "person worth" especially since as a person gets older, their legal worth plummets...and that's when they accrue most of the bills...
Posted by: Nova Local

The net present value of an individual's future income stream, plus net worth.

Harsh but accurate.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at December 12, 2024 11:39 AM (OwXJq)

167 Ben Shapiro succinctly provided a solution to the issue: Most medicine should be pay as you go, with regular visits and normal care priced at some reasonable (actual) rate. (We paid for an MRI ten years ago - not covered - and the rate went down from $10k or so if insured, to something like $1,200 when we paid out of pocket- they even negotiated with us. ).

Posted by: LASue at December 12, 2024 11:31 AM (lCppi)

=======

This is a long held line of thinking that health insurance should mirror car insurance.

Insurance doesn't pay for oil changes.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, trying to figure out Joel Schumacher at December 12, 2024 11:32 AM (cD1dp)
______

Two points: 1. We lost this battle the second we let the left start redefining health insurance as some kind of "right."

2. Lots of people don't bother paying for oil changes or other routine car maintenance. It's why many new cars come with free maintenance, to ensure the work gets done. My car is at the dealer right now for 30k service. $1,200 fucking bucks!

Posted by: Elric The Blade at December 12, 2024 11:40 AM (iFTx/)

168 Kimmel describes how his producers are in love with the UnitedHealth murderer:

Hey, Che Guevara was a sociopathic mass murderer, but he looked so dreamy.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at December 12, 2024 11:40 AM (uxCna)

169 That is the whole point. Medical costs are outrageous because the person getting the service doesn't pay for it or even see the bill. Make them publish pricing and bring on competition.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at December 12, 2024 11:31 AM (OwXJq)
==
Except - they don't. There have been multiple projects and products rolled out to help employers do exactly that for their employees. It's impact has been nothing changed. I was directly involved in an effort in a midsized down with multiple providers with multiple employers. The only impact? Hospital outpatient imaging costs went down a bit, they weren't happy about it. The hospitals just went all in on buying doctor groups and surgery centers and made sure to direct most of their imaging needs within their own provider networks. The effort died. Customers are not sensitive to posted prices their insurance company will pay, or their deductible will absorb.

Posted by: Black JEM at December 12, 2024 11:40 AM (GZYu7)

170 Won't Xi see that as a sign of weakness and, like operation "Barbarossa" shell Quemoy and Matsu?
Posted by: Auspex at December 12, 2024 11:37 AM (j4U/Z)

Not if all the officers who are shown the door leave in high heels.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at December 12, 2024 11:41 AM (muwun)

171
Elon should pack the useless government wage slobs onto a rocket. "In space, no one can hear you scream."

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at December 12, 2024 11:41 AM (QfD0o)

172 My surgery in the beginning of the year was 300K. The surgeon, the dude who pulled me out of the grave, was 7K. I might have had 5-6 nurses during my stay, and a handful of people in the OR. you could have given 7K to each of them and not broke 100K. The hospital got well over 200K to babysit me for 6 days.
Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at December 12, 2024 11:26 AM (VwHCD)

Someone had to clean those bedpans. -- Juan the orderly.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at December 12, 2024 11:41 AM (ExV1e)

173 What is Argentina using for currency? The USD was common, or at least pegged. That makes their recovery more remarkable. They can’t float Argentinian Pesos, correct?

Argentina was approximately the 3rd wealthiest nation in the 19th century, Supposably. I think at any rate they took a long time to recover from the damage inflicted lo so many trips around the Sun ago. There are still boarded up buildings from 1960s riots.

Posted by: Common Tater at December 12, 2024 11:41 AM (ywAtJ)

174 Insurance doesn't pay for oil changes.

I picked up a prescription at Wegmans the other day. Due to the timing, insurance wouldn't cover it. The girl behind the counter asked if I wanted to pay out of pocket for it instead of going through the insurance company. I asked her how much that would be. She replied, "$8.00."

Why in the heck is insurance being used to cover something that only costs $8? Sheesh.

Posted by: Bulg at December 12, 2024 11:42 AM (v6JzV)

175 Kimmel describes how his producers are in love with the UnitedHealth murderer

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is all, "I thought we were solid, man!"

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at December 12, 2024 11:42 AM (muwun)

176 166 Gonna be hard to do "person worth" especially since as a person gets older, their legal worth plummets...and that's when they accrue most of the bills...
Posted by: Nova Local

The net present value of an individual's future income stream, plus net worth.

Harsh but accurate.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at December 12, 2024 11:39 AM (OwXJq)

So, at 65, you're worth effectively zero, so Medicare gets really cheap.

Yeah, this is where that concept all breaks down...

Posted by: Nova Local at December 12, 2024 11:42 AM (exHjb)

177 Someone had to clean those bedpans. -- Juan the orderly.
Posted by: I used to have a different nic at December 12, 2024 11:41 AM (ExV1e)
Don’t cry for Juan, Argentina.

Posted by: Eromero at December 12, 2024 11:43 AM (jgmnb)

178 2. Lots of people don't bother paying for oil changes or other routine car maintenance. It's why many new cars come with free maintenance, to ensure the work gets done. My car is at the dealer right now for 30k service. $1,200 fucking bucks!
Posted by: Elric The Blade at December 12, 2024

***
I rarely go to the dealer except to buy a part, or for service that my regular independent mechanic says I should go there for because he doesn't have the equipment for it (rare). Some of those 15K or 30K "services" are checks, such as wiper blades and the like, that most people can do themselves.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 12, 2024 11:43 AM (J2vNu)

179 I don't think we have even a faint idea of how much the current regime is aggressively choking to death America.

From the censorship to the regulations to the lawfare to the spending--there is so much that is just "normal."

And made so over the last 40 years by an open conspiracy between the State and the media to make ANY cuts in ANYTHING outrageous, offensive and impossible.
So we have no idea because we're so deep underwater, we can't even see what life would be like without this entire leviathan crushing us.

And I'll go back to Tucker's Election night interview:
Sid (forget his last name) saying, "we found that we got as much blowback if we went 10% or 70%, so we might as well cut 70%. There is no incentive for half-measures or incremental steps."

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at December 12, 2024 11:44 AM (MX9rJ)

180 I know of no other type of insurance where the policyholder has an incentive to use it. Aside from health insurance, everything else insures against events you do not want to occur.

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at December 12, 2024 11:44 AM (b2/tX)

181 >>we elected him and have stuck with him all this time

And he stuck with us even when they shot him in the head.

We've gone from Trump is going to prison to Trump can't win the primary to Trump can't beat Biden to Trump can't beat Harris to him winning in a landslide. And yea, it was a landslide in today's climate.

There is absolutely a climate for cutting spending. That is the entire reason for Musk and Vivek and it's very popular. And enormous amount of spending can be cut the same way Musk did it at Twitter, by cutting unnecessary headcount. The Fed Gov't is an enormously bloated swamp with hundreds of agencies most have never even heard of. Foreign aid is another huge bucket of waste. There's huge amounts of possible savings.

We have a team of highly successful business people tasked with cutting gov't. Finally. Let's see what they can do.

Posted by: JackStraw at December 12, 2024 11:45 AM (LkLld)

182 My car is at the dealer right now for 30k service. $1,200 fucking bucks!
Posted by: Elric The Blade

We told you not to buy the Mercedes, but no, you just had to profile!

Posted by: Tactical Hermit at December 12, 2024 11:46 AM (G5+As)

183 174 Insurance doesn't pay for oil changes.

I picked up a prescription at Wegmans the other day. Due to the timing, insurance wouldn't cover it. The girl behind the counter asked if I wanted to pay out of pocket for it instead of going through the insurance company. I asked her how much that would be. She replied, "$8.00."

Why in the heck is insurance being used to cover something that only costs $8? Sheesh.
Posted by: Bulg at December 12, 2024 11:42 AM (v6JzV)

She probably gave you the discount plan rate...
I had a high level steroid script b/c of my allergy to my cancer treatment...I go to pick it up - Aetna wants $175. Pharmacist literally says let me try a few other programs. I walk out with it for $19.78. No idea which program "worked", but someone was paying the offset. I think Aetna was refusing the med entirely, so it was full price, which no one pays...

Posted by: Nova Local at December 12, 2024 11:46 AM (exHjb)

184
My wife threw my Saur Kraut out to make room for the turkey. Then I buy hot dogs and buns and discover her trespass. Life is not fair.
Posted by: pudinhead

===============

Threw out sauerkraut!? Isn't the whole point of sauerkraut that you don't have to refrigerate it? Surely you can leave it out on the counter for as long as it takes to finish off the turkey.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at December 12, 2024 11:46 AM (QfD0o)

185 Dude, he’s just not that into you.

Tom Elliott@tomselliott
Kimmel describes how his producers are in love with the UnitedHealth murderer: “I would visit him in prison! And bake him cookies, maybe. Perhaps more …“
“I’m about to be a jailhouse bride”
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Peppermint Mocha! at December 12, 2024 11:38 AM (L/fGl)
_________

These looney spin-cycle cat ladies do know that Super Mario Brother is gay as the Village People training each other at the Folsom Street Fair yelling "Bring Macho Men to the YMCA!" Right?

Posted by: Elric The Blade at December 12, 2024 11:46 AM (iFTx/)

186 Why in the heck is insurance being used to cover something that only costs $8? Sheesh.

My insurance would pay for Omeprazole. It is literally less than my co-pay to buy it OTC at Sam's Club.

Posted by: Oddbob at December 12, 2024 11:47 AM (/y8xj)

187 That is the whole point. Medical costs are outrageous because the person getting the service doesn't pay for it or even see the bill. Make them publish pricing and bring on competition.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at December 12, 2024 11:31 AM (OwXJq)

Also, set a very basic, minimum set of required coverage at the federal level and don't let states add to it. Once my daughter graduates and starts working, my wife and I should not need to carry maternity coverage. I also don't need to carry tranny coverage.

Insurance costs so much because states make it so that stupid shit (not maternity, that's not stupid) gets a bite from every insurance dollar and providers price accordingly.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at December 12, 2024 11:47 AM (ExV1e)

188 Curtis Houck@CurtisHouck
NBC's Ken Dilanian whines during a Special Report on FBI Director Chris Wray stepping down that "perhaps no one is more to blame than Mr. Trump" for why Americans no longer trust the FBI thanks to "baseless" accusations

-
Sumbitch wouldn't bend over and take it!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Peppermint Mocha! at December 12, 2024 11:47 AM (L/fGl)

189 Customers are not sensitive to posted prices their insurance company will pay, or their deductible will absorb.
Posted by: Black JEM

Routine care should not be insured. Emergency room care should have a surcharge. I would prefer that health insurance be outlawed and make it all cash, except for catastrophic coverage.

On the current path, we are headed towards national health care, which is even more expensive, and results in massive wait lists, so essentially no care; you either heal before treatment or die before treatment.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at December 12, 2024 11:47 AM (OwXJq)

190 Good thread.

Local county: Delaware County, Pennsylvania Highest Paid Employees
In 2023 Delaware County, Pennsylvania reported 153 employees making more than $100,000 per year; the average salary was $55,297, plus an array of benefits including very reasonable ($) healthcare for the most part.

Pennsylvania Highest Paid Employees
in 2023 the State of Pennsylvania reported 14,139 employees making more than $100,000 per year; the average salary was $66,885. (Again, plus benefits.)

Penn Live: Pa. legislators’ base pay to crack $110K for first time after latest round of raises, Updated: Nov. 27, 2024
--
For ALL above, not including the cost of gov. employees driving on the taxpayers' dime. (Of course, other states vary.)

Then examine the Feds & the big multi-employer Unions - pay and benefits, too.
--
>Supply Chain Brain: Teamsters Give Amazon Ultimatum
National News, 12/09/24

>National News, Social Security beneficiaries at risk of delays amid GOP funding fight, by: Alexander Bolton, The Hill, 12/09/24

More full time positions; greater wages; greater benefits, lesser hours

How are those caught in stagnant wage growth & skyrocketing inflation ever going to be helped?? 🤷‍♀

Posted by: Rooster one day, feather duster another at December 12, 2024 11:47 AM (NFX2v)

191 185 These looney spin-cycle cat ladies do know that Super Mario Brother is gay as the Village People training each other at the Folsom Street Fair yelling "Bring Macho Men to the YMCA!" Right?
Posted by: Elric The Blade at December 12, 2024 11:46 AM (iFTx/)

=====

They'd thirst over Princip and then wonder why their quality of life suddenly crashed within a year.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, trying to figure out Joel Schumacher at December 12, 2024 11:47 AM (cD1dp)

192 And enormous amount of spending can be cut the same way Musk did it at Twitter, by cutting unnecessary headcount. The Fed Gov't is an enormously bloated swamp with hundreds of agencies most have never even heard of. Foreign aid is another huge bucket of waste. There's huge amounts of possible savings.

We have a team of highly successful business people tasked with cutting gov't. Finally. Let's see what they can do.
Posted by: JackStraw at December 12, 2024

***
Aid, including military, to countries that hate us: CUT

Aid to illegals: CUT because THEY WON'T BE HERE

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 12, 2024 11:47 AM (J2vNu)

193 The issue is that under ObamaCare, the hospitals were made the linchpin of the whole medical system. And they are among the least efficient and most expensive providers in the entire system. The ACA took a very expensive health care system and made it even more expensive. It needs to be repealed, and all regulation insulating hospitals from competition repealed.

There are a bunch of bad players in the US healthcare system -including patients who ant someone else to pay for their healthcare needs, but in a sea of villains, the hospitals generally are the most heinous.

Posted by: Black JEM at December 12, 2024 11:47 AM (GZYu7)

194 Threw out sauerkraut!? Isn't the whole point of sauerkraut that you don't have to refrigerate it? Surely you can leave it out on the counter for as long as it takes to finish off the turkey.
---------------
Remember the ad where the MIL is going through the frig yelling 'expired' and tossing stuff in the garbage?

Posted by: pudinhead at December 12, 2024 11:48 AM (jFCkp)

195 I'm sure Senator Warren does not think murder is proper. She considers killing a CEO a mercy killing

Posted by: Smell the Glove at December 12, 2024 11:48 AM (YO1Vi)

196 >>We have a team of highly successful business people tasked with cutting gov't. Finally. Let's see what they can do.

I want ALL of the Public Sector Employees and their families audited.

Senators and Staff. Congressmen. Department Heads.

ALL of their finances gone through with a fine toothed comb.

Let's make the likes of Elizabeth Warren and Nancy Pelosi shine some light on their Finances.

Posted by: garrett at December 12, 2024 11:48 AM (j6KoD)

197 Lots of people don't bother paying for oil changes or other routine car maintenance. It's why many new cars come with free maintenance, to ensure the work gets done. My car is at the dealer right now for 30k service. $1,200 fucking bucks!
---
People just don't repair their own cars any more.
We've bought into the "rental" or "service contract" of cars, even when buying new.
Like, they have made us think it too hard to fix.
Every new car now is basically a lease.

I've been doing some major preventative maintenance repairs on my 2014.
Auto parts stores are now "auto tune up" stores. They're not repair shops with old men behind the counter smoking a Marlboro while looking up the part you need before going in the back to get it.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at December 12, 2024 11:48 AM (MX9rJ)

198 My car is at the dealer right now for 30k service. $1,200 fucking bucks!
Posted by: Elric The Blade

Wow. Toyota threw in 2yrs of service for free when I bought the car.

Posted by: Tonypete at December 12, 2024 11:48 AM (WXNFJ)

199 Also (my addition) emergency rooms should be not available for non-emergencies, colds, flu, sniffles, shots, hangnails, etc.
Posted by: LASue at December 12, 2024 11:31 AM (lCppi)

Maybe something like tetanus is okay.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at December 12, 2024 11:48 AM (ExV1e)

200 I'd like to see funding for prison inmate health care slashed. Like "if you are convicted for murder you get UK level health care". You or your family can buy private insurance if you want American level care.

And then once the shrieking over that stops do the same thing with medicaid, but maybe as a salve make it easier for the providers of basic care to get paid.

Posted by: PaleRider at December 12, 2024 11:49 AM (CKOCg)

201 refrigerate [sauerkraut]? Surely you can leave it out on the counter for as long as it takes to ~~finish off the turkey~~ kill the roaches and rats.
Posted by: Blonde Morticia at December 12, 2024

Fixed

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 12, 2024 11:49 AM (J2vNu)

202 Lots of people don't bother paying for oil changes or other routine car maintenance. It's why many new cars come with free maintenance, to ensure the work gets done. My car is at the dealer right now for 30k service. $1,200 fucking bucks!
Posted by: Elric The Blade at December 12, 2024

***
I rarely go to the dealer except to buy a part, or for service that my regular independent mechanic says I should go there for because he doesn't have the equipment for it (rare). Some of those 15K or 30K "services" are checks, such as wiper blades and the like, that most people can do themselves.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 12, 2024 11:43 AM (J2vNu)
______

True, but the car companies are getting smart. In certain new cars, only the dealer can turn off the incessant and annoying "BRING CAR INTO SERVICE YOU ASSHOLE" messages that pop up everywhere. So yea, I can (maybe) get the work done elsewhere, but the messaging won't be turned off.

Posted by: Elric The Blade at December 12, 2024 11:50 AM (iFTx/)

203 Donald Trump has an opportunity to be one of the most consequential political figures in American history.

May providence guide him and protect him.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at December 12, 2024 11:50 AM (VFH4j)

204 161
‘ Kimmel describes how his producers are in love with the UnitedHealth murderer’

I wonder if Kimmel knows how many people would like to fire some slugs into his carcass.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at December 12, 2024 11:50 AM (jbnUc)

205 Wow. Toyota threw in 2yrs of service for free when I bought the car.
-----------------
The Inscrutable Orientals.

Posted by: pudinhead at December 12, 2024 11:51 AM (jFCkp)

206 My car is at the dealer right now for 30k service. $1,200 fucking bucks!
Posted by: Elric The Blade

Wow. Toyota threw in 2yrs of service for free when I bought the car.
Posted by: Tonypete at December 12, 2024 11:48 AM (WXNFJ)
_____

Yea, that's the new trend. My mom has 2 years service too. Unfortunately, my current car is "fuck you, pay me." I have a deposit on a car to be delivered second half of next year that has 3 years maintenance included. Thankfully.

Posted by: Elric The Blade at December 12, 2024 11:52 AM (iFTx/)

207 Customers are not sensitive to posted prices their insurance company will pay, or their deductible will absorb.
Posted by: Black JEM

Routine care should not be insured. Emergency room care should have a surcharge. I would prefer that health insurance be outlawed and make it all cash, except for catastrophic coverage.

On the current path, we are headed towards national health care, which is even more expensive, and results in massive wait lists, so essentially no care; you either heal before treatment or die before treatment.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at December 12, 2024 11:47 AM (OwXJq)
==
You're right routine care should be self pay. And hospitals should re-absorb total control of billing for their emergency rooms instead of allowing 3rd party doc groups to come in and work up patients in order to maximize billing. Most employer plans already have stipulations for ER use. That certainly needs to continue. Non-profit hospitals need to quit treating their ER departments as profit centers.

Posted by: Black JEM at December 12, 2024 11:52 AM (GZYu7)

208 If I was Kimmel I’d be embarrassed to tell the world what scumbags work for/with me. Zip the lip

Posted by: LinusVanPelt at December 12, 2024 11:52 AM (5MZNC)

209 True, but the car companies are getting smart. In certain new cars, only the dealer can turn off the incessant and annoying "BRING CAR INTO SERVICE YOU ASSHOLE" messages that pop up everywhere. So yea, I can (maybe) get the work done elsewhere, but the messaging won't be turned off.
Posted by: Elric The Blade at December 12, 2024

***
My 2016 Buick isn't at that level, thank goodness. If something happened to it, I don't know what I would buy, but a car much newer would be a hard sell to me.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 12, 2024 11:53 AM (J2vNu)

210 Hazard insurance for homes in Florida must be for full New construction cost.
Maybe other states too...

You bet your ass I hope that hurricane will take my roof off!

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at December 12, 2024 11:53 AM (+f+9Y)

211 Wow. Toyota threw in 2yrs of service for free when I bought the car.
-----------------
The Inscrutable Orientals.
Posted by: pudinhead at December 12, 2024

***
Picture Dr. Fu Manchu being driven in a Lexus limousine.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 12, 2024 11:54 AM (J2vNu)

212 My 2016 Buick isn't at that level, thank goodness. If something happened to it, I don't know what I would buy, but a car much newer would be a hard sell to me.
-------------
New cars are lousy with chips and computer displays. Just give me 4 or 5 on the floor and a fucking radio.

Posted by: pudinhead at December 12, 2024 11:54 AM (jFCkp)

213 These looney spin-cycle cat ladies do know that Super Mario Brother is gay as the Village People training each other at the Folsom Street Fair yelling "Bring Macho Men to the YMCA!" Right?
Posted by: Elric The Blade at December 12, 2024 11:46 AM (iFTx/)

=====

They'd thirst over Princip and then wonder why their quality of life suddenly crashed within a year.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, trying to figure out Joel Schumacher at December 12, 2024 11:47 AM (cD1dp)
_____

He was so dreamy too! But it's not just these guys. Just about every feral savage on death row -- even the ugly ones -- has legions of female admirers. There's a substantial portion of the female population that's just batshit crazy insane.

Posted by: Elric The Blade at December 12, 2024 11:55 AM (iFTx/)

214 True, but the car companies are getting smart. In certain new cars, only the dealer can turn off the incessant and annoying "BRING CAR INTO SERVICE YOU ASSHOLE" messages that pop up everywhere. So yea, I can (maybe) get the work done elsewhere, but the messaging won't be turned off.
Posted by: Elric The Blade at December 12, 2024 11:50 AM (iFTx/)

You can turn it off... there is always a way.

Posted by: Inogame at December 12, 2024 11:55 AM (53oGX)

215 203 Donald Trump has an opportunity to be one of the most consequential political figures in American history.

May providence guide him and protect him.
Posted by: Thomas Bender at December 12, 2024 11:50 AM (VFH4j)

--------

Amen.

Posted by: Seems Legit at December 12, 2024 11:55 AM (jyAD3)

216 >>New cars are lousy with chips and computer displays. Just give me 4 or 5 on the floor and a fucking radio.

Pro Tip: Driving Radio gets more use than the Fucking Radio.

Posted by: garrett at December 12, 2024 11:55 AM (j6KoD)

217 I'm flabbergasted!

The gay couple that runs the largest LGBTQ news site accused of sexual abuse in the workplace

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Peppermint Mocha! at December 12, 2024 11:56 AM (L/fGl)

218 About Argentina, that 200%inflation was per year. The 2.7% was per month.
Still a fantastic accomplishment in one year.

Posted by: Chris at December 12, 2024 11:56 AM (i3Cgx)

219 I'm flabbergasted!

The gay couple that runs the largest LGBTQ news site accused of sexual abuse in the workplace
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Peppermint Mocha! at December 12, 2024 11:56 AM

The deuce, you say!

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at December 12, 2024 11:56 AM (kgE5c)

220 Argentina's success, Milei's success will make the globalists dig in even harder.

Posted by: Jukin the Deplorable a Clear and Present Danger at December 12, 2024 11:57 AM (17s+e)

221 I don't know what I would buy, but a car much newer would be a hard sell to me.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius,

The last three vehicles I have purchased were certified used. I can't see a single new vehicle I would consider. Too many keyless starters, sensors, and other failure point garbage on them. A smart company would build a light truck or sedan with none of that gimmicky crap for $20k and make a fortune.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at December 12, 2024 11:57 AM (OwXJq)

222 The biggest opponents of Medicare changes are the insurance companies, but of course this is known. Until they are disciplined there will be no change.
Posted by: tubal at December 12, 2024 11:36 AM (4GXOe)

Nominee for Secretary of Insurance Company Discipline

https://is.gd/U9yY0K - photo (almost certainly SFW)

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at December 12, 2024 11:57 AM (ExV1e)

223 216 >>New cars are lousy with chips and computer displays. Just give me 4 or 5 on the floor and a fucking radio.

Pro Tip: Driving Radio gets more use than the Fucking Radio.
-------------
Depends on whether you have bucket seats or a bench seat.

Posted by: pudinhead at December 12, 2024 11:57 AM (jFCkp)

224 >>>Who was that general arguing with (and lying to) Sen John Kennedy of LA?

It was retired Army Maj. Gen. Randy Manner. The video is at Daily Caller. What a pieced of shit. that guy.

Posted by: one hour sober at December 12, 2024 11:57 AM (Y1sOo)

225 I've been doing some major preventative maintenance repairs on my 2014.
Auto parts stores are now "auto tune up" stores. They're not repair shops with old men behind the counter smoking a Marlboro while looking up the part you need before going in the back to get it.
Posted by: People's Hippo Voice
=======
Rock Auto and Carid are both excellent online stores for autoparts. Summit Racing as well. Even Amazon but you have to wade through a lot of chineseum fake parts to get real ones. I triangulate via identifying the OEM part number and description, then getting prices from each source.

Some decent online Factory Authorized Auto Dealers can also work for those parts you have to get from OEM dealers themselves. For whatever reason, I've found for my particular older cars that a fair number of these dealers are in Florida but if you need parts immediately and are in an urban area, you can also use Auto MFG websites now to get parts, prices, and live inventory from dealers around your location. If I use that tool, I always call before I waste time going to a dealer when their inventory is wrong. Same for Autozone, Advance, or O'Reilly.

Posted by: whig at December 12, 2024 11:57 AM (ctrM5)

226 "The cost of the surgery will be determined on the day of the surgery"
Will it be after I go under? What if you sped that up by about 90 minutes?
How do you even ask that question without assuming you are dealing with crooks?

I'm getting a passport so I can do medical tourism.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at December 12, 2024 11:58 AM (lhenN)

227 My 2016 Buick isn't at that level, thank goodness. If something happened to it, I don't know what I would buy, but a car much newer would be a hard sell to me.
-------------
New cars are lousy with chips and computer displays. Just give me 4 or 5 on the floor and a fucking radio.
Posted by: pudinhead at December 12, 2024

***
I'd need an autobox, a radio, A/C, and power windows (only because it's convenient to roll down the windows, drive a bit to blow out accumulated heat, and then power them back up). And things like power brakes and steering. As long as the car doesn't creak and rattle, and has those things, I'm pretty good.

Though I have gotten to like the in-dash compass on my Buicks and the BMW.

The Buick has GPS. In five years I've hardly tried to use it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 12, 2024 11:58 AM (J2vNu)

228 >>A smart company would build a light truck or sedan with none of that gimmicky crap for $20k and make a fortune.

Ford could turn it all around by producing a Ford F-150 : 1996 Edition.

Posted by: garrett at December 12, 2024 11:58 AM (j6KoD)

229 What is Argentina using for currency? The USD was common, or at least pegged. That makes their recovery more remarkable. They can’t float Argentinian Pesos, correct?

Argentina was approximately the 3rd wealthiest nation in the 19th century, Supposably. I think at any rate they took a long time to recover from the damage inflicted lo so many trips around the Sun ago. There are still boarded up buildings from 1960s riots.
Posted by: Common Tater at December 12, 2024 11:41 AM (ywAtJ)

They use the Argentine Peso, it is trading at about 1050:1 USD today. Because of the laws there, all contracts and sales have to be in Argentine pesos to be enforceable, but because of the inflation everyone keeps their money in USD, and trades in and out of it.

Posted by: Kindltot at December 12, 2024 11:58 AM (D7oie)

230 Bettina Anderson looks like a wild girl. She just has that look.

Posted by: ... at December 12, 2024 11:58 AM (RyRnV)

231 Why am I awake at 2:00AM?

Here's the thing--Argentina is hurting right now. No one has any money and the poor are hardest hit. Milei has these press conferences because he has to convince the public to stay the course.

All that printing and spending made the rich richer, but it also went out to the poor and kept them afloat. Getting rid of that is really hard and requires nerves of steel. I hope Trump does not cave if he even gets that far.

There is hope in Argentina, and that is worth something. Rents are down, housing is up without controls. Construction seems to be opening up. The real problem is a lot of people now have to work to eat. That will be a really big problem in USA.

Not trying to be a downer, but there is a reason it is so rare for countries to fix these problems.

Posted by: Gentlemen, time for a reckoning at December 12, 2024 11:59 AM (rxh+B)

232 A smart company would build a light truck or sedan with none of that gimmicky crap for $20k and make a fortune.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at December 12, 2024 11:57 AM (OwXJq)

they do, they sell them in Mexico. They are illegal here.

Posted by: Kindltot at December 12, 2024 11:59 AM (D7oie)

233 I hope Ace comes out of the Blocks, today, with an Ed Henry Thread.

Posted by: garrett at December 12, 2024 11:59 AM (j6KoD)

234 A smart company would build a light truck or sedan with none of that gimmicky crap for $20k and make a fortune.

=======

Those are available.

No one's making a fortune on them.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, trying to figure out Joel Schumacher at December 12, 2024 11:59 AM (cD1dp)

235 213
‘ There's a substantial portion of the female population that's just batshit crazy insane.’

I know how to fix that.

Posted by: Sean Connery at December 12, 2024 11:59 AM (jbnUc)

236 Step 3: Re-educate the American people about Social Security. It is not an investment. It is not an account. It is a tax and welfare.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, trying to figure out Joel Schumacher at December 12, 2024 11:39 AM (cD1dp)

Yes. But that'll take longer than cutting off funding for people who aren't legally entitled to it.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at December 12, 2024 11:59 AM (ExV1e)

237 "BREAKING: Concerns are rising among military officials that Pete Hegseth, if confirmed as Secretary of Defense, could dismiss up to 20 “woke” generals and high-ranking officers.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks"

Can they actually be fired? Or just reassigned to shuffling papers and counting paperclips?

Posted by: Ripley at December 12, 2024 11:59 AM (GUOwU)

238 You know the stupidest part about the modern obsession with "OMG! I must have health insurance or I'll die if I get sick!"

There are several studies that show like 1/3 of patients don't get better, 1/3 do and 1/3 would have regardless of treatment.

All that money for a 33% increase over your outcome if you do nothing?

Doctors really are just fucking throwing out a WAG when it come to treating you. (Other than wounds, broken bones and obvious stuff.)

So, this is all to say--the biggest part that F'ed over the people was Obamacare outlawing catastrophic only insurance.
Because that's all you really need.
But they need the healthy forced to pay for smokers, fatties and drug abusers.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at December 12, 2024 12:00 PM (MX9rJ)

239 Hi friends! Been away from the world and catching up now.

Posted by: Piper at December 12, 2024 12:00 PM (pZEOD)

240 Can you imagine the shit storm if some show's staff were all excited about killing the democrat party politicians? 24/7/365. It would be nonstop and biblical.

Posted by: Jukin the Deplorable a Clear and Present Danger at December 12, 2024 12:00 PM (17s+e)

241 In certain new cars, only the dealer can turn off the incessant and annoying "BRING CAR INTO SERVICE YOU ASSHOLE" messages that pop up everywhere. So yea, I can (maybe) get the work done elsewhere, but the messaging won't be turned off.
Posted by: Elric The Blade at December 12, 2024
*
You can turn it off... there is always a way.
Posted by: Inogame at December 12, 2024

***
Or go to the dealer for an oil change and/or tire rotation, politely refuse any upsells, and say, "Can you turn this message off for me?"

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 12, 2024 12:00 PM (J2vNu)

242 "BREAKING: Concerns are rising among military officials that Pete Hegseth, if confirmed as Secretary of Defense, could dismiss up to 20 “woke” generals and high-ranking officers.
---
Only 20?

There is at least one zero missing. Probably 2.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at December 12, 2024 12:00 PM (MX9rJ)

243 You know the stupidest part about the modern obsession with "OMG! I must have health insurance or I'll die if I get sick!"

There are several studies that show like 1/3 of patients don't get better, 1/3 do and 1/3 would have regardless of treatment.

All that money for a 33% increase over your outcome if you do nothing?

Doctors really are just fucking throwing out a WAG when it come to treating you. (Other than wounds, broken bones and obvious stuff.)

So, this is all to say--the biggest part that F'ed over the people was Obamacare outlawing catastrophic only insurance.
Because that's all you really need.
But they need the healthy forced to pay for smokers, fatties and drug abusers.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at December 12, 2024 12:00 PM (MX9rJ)
==
Numerous studies showing people on Medicaid have no better outcomes than people who are uninsured.

Posted by: Black JEM at December 12, 2024 12:01 PM (GZYu7)

244 216
‘ Driving Radio gets more use than the Fucking Radio. ’

Well, stop fucking it then.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at December 12, 2024 12:01 PM (jbnUc)

245 Nood. Time.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at December 12, 2024 12:01 PM (ExV1e)

246 It was retired Army Maj. Gen. Randy Manner. The video is at Daily Caller. What a pieced of shit. that guy.
Posted by: one hour sober
==========
That is true of most of the Obama and Bush generals and a curse of a mostly peacetime military focused on internal politics of DC rather than fighting wars. Remember, each of these pampered princes had to cultivate ties on Capitol Hill to specific political patrons to get ahead as well to executive officials in the bureaucratic blob.

Posted by: whig at December 12, 2024 12:01 PM (ctrM5)

247 I can't wait for all the spending cuts to the federal budget then watch the enemedia run stories of some old fart not being unable to buy food or get their viagra script or the welfare queen and her 19 chirruns running out of gas and food and having to live in their Benz and how the military cannot afford any cuts because you have to have senior NCO's handing out BaseKetBalls at the Field House for family day every weekend. Pass the popcorn.

Posted by: Balance The Budget Pipe Dream at December 12, 2024 12:01 PM (Jq+og)

248 >>Not trying to be a downer, but there is a reason it is so rare for countries to fix these problems.

Either we fix the problems or the problems will fix us. We are climbing past $37 billion in debt and the interest payments are rocketing toward the largest part of our budget.

We can't tax our way out of this mess. It's either big cuts or collapse. There is no door number 3.

Posted by: JackStraw at December 12, 2024 12:01 PM (LkLld)

249 238 There are several studies that show like 1/3 of patients don't get better, 1/3 do and 1/3 would have regardless of treatment.

All that money for a 33% increase over your outcome if you do nothing?

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at December 12, 2024 12:00 PM (MX9rJ)

======

This was also demonstrated in the Oregon study on Medicaid spending.

Huge, double-blind study that ended up conclusively saying that Medicaid enrollment provided no better health outcomes than being uninsured. It provided no better financial outcomes, either.

All it did was show that Medicaid enrollment made people feel better about their financial situation.

$1 trillion a year to make people feel better about their financial situation.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, trying to figure out Joel Schumacher at December 12, 2024 12:01 PM (cD1dp)

250 Can they actually be fired? Or just reassigned to shuffling papers and counting paperclips?
Posted by: Ripley at December 12, 2024 11:59 AM (GUOwU)
------------

I thought I read on AoS what can happen: generals are given a choice: retire and enjoy retirement at your current rank, or, be demoted to a nowhere desk job and retire at that rank when your time is up.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1) at December 12, 2024 12:02 PM (tT6L1)

251 I will say that the local suburban GM dealer from whom I bought the '03 Buick in '07, and who did paid-for oil changes and tire rotations on the '11 Buick Regal, has always been good to work with and has not tried to upsell me.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 12, 2024 12:02 PM (J2vNu)

252 I enjoyed watching Trump ring the NYSE bell! And I like his new TIME cover as person of the year.

How it started: Trump down the escalator
How it is going:
Mug shot
Then actually shot
Now TIME person of the year

Posted by: LizLem at December 12, 2024 12:02 PM (wcIbG)

253 Numerous studies showing people on Medicaid have no better outcomes than people who are uninsured.
Posted by: Black JEM at December 12, 2024 12:01 PM (GZYu7)

Both are getting free care, so they should be about equal. Hospitals and their financial health, on the other hand...

Posted by: Nova Local at December 12, 2024 12:02 PM (exHjb)

254 Step 3: Re-educate the American people about Social Security. It is not an investment. It is not an account. It is a tax and welfare.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, trying to figure out Joel Schumacher at December 12, 2024 11:39 AM (cD1dp)

Yes. But that'll take longer than cutting off funding for people who aren't legally entitled to it.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic
===

Get illegals off and go thru the multiple SSN accounts.... oh and chop off 90% of the SSDI claims as well. There are ways to save SS other than cutting benefits to people that put into the system.

Posted by: Jukin the Deplorable a Clear and Present Danger at December 12, 2024 12:03 PM (17s+e)

255 A smart company would build a light truck or sedan with none of that gimmicky crap for $20k and make a fortune.

=======

Those are available.

No one's making a fortune on them.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, trying to figure out Joel Schumacher at December 12, 2024 11:59 AM (cD1dp)
____

Yea. Everyone claims they want a cheap, stripped out vehicle like the old days. But every time a car company tries this, it fails and they lose a ton of money. The market has spoken over and over (and over): they want loaded out cars with all the doodads. Buyers spend at least 15% of the base price on options even on the cheaper cars. On exotics? It's 40% or more.

Posted by: Elric The Blade at December 12, 2024 12:03 PM (iFTx/)

256 There is hope in Argentina, and that is worth something. Rents are down, housing is up without controls. Construction seems to be opening up. The real problem is a lot of people now have to work to eat. That will be a really big problem in USA.

Not trying to be a downer, but there is a reason it is so rare for countries to fix these problems.
Posted by: Gentlemen, time for a reckoning at December 12, 2024 11:59 AM (rxh+B)

however, they were hurting before Milei, and the Minister of Security, Bullrich, seems to be willing to break heads at need to tamp down riots. Milei has a cabinet that seems willing to back his play.
Also, Kristina de Kirchner just got convicted of corruption, and a lot of the old establishment is on their back foot

Posted by: Kindltot at December 12, 2024 12:04 PM (D7oie)

257 You know the stupidest part about the modern obsession with "OMG! I must have health insurance or I'll die if I get sick!"

I would like to see health insurance as it is now destroyed and returned to catastrophic events only. There is no possible way you can save money with health insurance (unless you have a catastrophic illness). It may seem possible but only because employers pay much of the premiums. It is a huge waste of money and time.

Posted by: Ripley at December 12, 2024 12:05 PM (GUOwU)

258 226 I'm getting a passport so I can do medical tourism.
Posted by: BourbonChicken

India has a few cities dedicated to that. But I was advised to not try it by an Indian dude that works at the Red Cross because it's a "filthy fucking country."

Posted by: NR Pax at December 12, 2024 12:05 PM (NR6c1)

259 Get illegals off and go thru the multiple SSN accounts.... oh and chop off 90% of the SSDI claims as well. There are ways to save SS other than cutting benefits to people that put into the system.
Posted by: Jukin the Deplorable a Clear and Present Danger at December 12, 2024 12:03 PM (17s+e)
---------------

Benefits have already been cut dramatically these last 4 years, through inflation.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (tT6L1) at December 12, 2024 12:05 PM (tT6L1)

260 Oh. And I saw that Trump says if you invest $1 billion into the US economy, you'll get all the red tape cut. Maybe Ontario will stop throwing a snit fit about pulling their trade shipments now and get in line.

There was the weirdest Ontario TV ad on Fox News, it wasn't for tourism, but to remind us what an important trade partner they are for the US. Never seen anything like it. Trump has Trudeau scared.

Posted by: LizLem at December 12, 2024 12:05 PM (wcIbG)

261 People don't understand The Laffer Curve.

The concept is reviled by the Left because it is association with Republican administrations (Ford and Reagan), but they fail to grasp that the Laffer Curve is at its very core a Leftist notion. Why? Becasue the whole point of the Laffer Curve is to pinpoint the tax rate at which government tax revenue is maximized.

"Conservatives" argue that the peak of the Laffer Curve is somewhere around 30%. "Liberals" argue that the peak of the Laffer Curve is somewhere around 70%. But either way, the GOAL is to maximize tax revenue so as to MAXIMIZE GOVERNMENT SPENDING.

Why should maximizing government spending even be the goal? The government should spend at little as possible, and thus tax as little as possible, EVEN IF MORE TAX REVENUE COULD BE RAISED.

THe goal shpuld,be freedom, and letting people keep their money.

Posted by: zombie at December 12, 2024 12:06 PM (pMi6S)

262 >>>Hazard insurance for homes in Florida must be for full New construction cost.
Maybe other states too...

You bet your ass I hope that hurricane will take my roof off!

*****

On my policy here in Florida, hurricane coverage is under its own rider. It is separate from the other hazard provisions such as fire, hail, windstorms (non-hurricane) and the like.

Posted by: one hour sober at December 12, 2024 12:07 PM (Y1sOo)

263 240
‘ Can you imagine the shit storm if some show's staff were all excited about killing the democrat party politicians’

Gosh I hope that never happens.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at December 12, 2024 12:08 PM (jbnUc)

264 We can't tax our way out of this mess. It's either big cuts or collapse. There is no door number 3.

Posted by: JackStraw

--------

No argument from me. I am only saying that this is not an easy fix.
It is like telling a drug addict to just quit. Usually they need to crash first.

Posted by: Gentlemen, time for a reckoning at December 12, 2024 12:08 PM (rxh+B)

265 Managed risk.

Eli Manning’s Giants Contract Didn’t Allow Him to Ride the Crime-Ridden NY Subway

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Peppermint Mocha! at December 12, 2024 12:08 PM (L/fGl)

266 A big difference between health and auto insurance: illegals can't get free repairs at the shop, like they do at the ER.

Everyone is bitching about auto insurance rate inflation, and attribute it to the cost of cars/parts -- wrong. Collision coverage is cheap -- under $100/year.

You lay through the nose for LIABILITY and UNINSURED MOTORIST coverage.

Posted by: Field Marshal Zhukov, now, where does a war hero get some lubrication around here? at December 12, 2024 12:15 PM (wBaIH)

267 On my policy here in Florida, hurricane coverage is under its own rider. It is separate from the other hazard provisions such as fire, hail, windstorms (non-hurricane) and the like.
Posted by: one hour sober at December

Same here in AL and if you don’t have a fortified roof, forget coverage at all.

Posted by: Piper at December 12, 2024 12:16 PM (p4NUW)

268 Jubilee, my friends.

35?? Trillion, plus 450 T in unfunded pensions.

Fob James, Governor of Alabama, who I met once, said he'd run for one term, and he balanced the budget, and perhaps even paid it off.

He did what he said.

Next guy went into debt.

I strongly support the DOGE efforts. After the Jubilee, we need lower expenses, after all. And also, less gov't power.

This is not the time to cry to God and say "God I'm really meaning it this time, I'll do better.". No 'tis time to cry to God and say 'God, have mercy on me, on us, on my children, and my grandchildren.'

Posted by: Eric2 at December 12, 2024 12:27 PM (hSVY4)

269 We have a team of highly successful business people tasked with cutting gov't. Finally. Let's see what they can do.

Posted by: JackStraw at December 12, 2024 11:45 AM

I certainly hope they are allowed to do so. We all know what happened in November 1963 the last time an Administration tried to cut the Deep State.

They have already made half-ass attempts to take out President Trump twice. And Musk's life is probably at risk 24/7 as well.

This next administration is working to take down not just the Deep State and the US government establishment waste of American taxpayer dollars, but also working to foil the WEF plans for Western civilization in general (mass illegal migration/invasion of third world to Western nations; "climate change" policies affecting energy industry, auto industry and food industry; healthcare policies like vaccines; gender dysphoria and child mutilation and reproduction prohibition policies; child sex trafficking industry).

Massive undertaking that will be affecting major enemies of Western civilization still in control of the Discover the Networks networks.

Posted by: Clyde Shelton at December 12, 2024 12:31 PM (P5BPp)

270 264 We can't tax our way out of this mess. It's either big cuts or collapse. There is no door number 3.

Posted by: JackStraw

--------

No argument from me. I am only saying that this is not an easy fix.
It is like telling a drug addict to just quit. Usually they need to crash first.
Posted by: Gentlemen, time for a reckoning at December 12, 2024 12:08 PM (rxh+B)

And after the collapse the cuts are inherent. Cuts, in any scenario are inevitable.

Posted by: tubal at December 12, 2024 12:35 PM (4GXOe)

271 We all know what happened in November 1963 the last time an Administration tried to cut the Deep State.

They have already made half-ass attempts to take out President Trump twice. And Musk's life is probably at risk 24/7 as well.

Posted by: Clyde Shelton at December 12, 2024 12:31 PM

Prior to the attempts on President Trump's life, I would not have been worried about this very much. For me (born 1976, not paying attention to politics until 09/12/2001), political assassinations were just things that happened before I was born or politically aware. JFK, Bobby Kennedy, MLK, Jr, attempts against Ford and Reagan.

But after the two attempts this summer against President Trump and the reaction of the Marxist left and the Democrat Party in general to those attempts, not to mention their reaction to the successful murder of the healthcare CEO and encouraging more, not to mention the support for burning-looting-murdering and antifa, it worries me more and more.

Posted by: Clyde Shelton at December 12, 2024 12:38 PM (P5BPp)

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