Government Policy and Budget Discussion Thread (no politics)

[847badgerfan]

All that talk about social security got me thinking that we could have a lot of good discussion on policy, without getting into politics (mostly).

I will be taking my social security at age 62, in a little less than 9 years. My wife will start taking it in about 3.5 years, at 62.

[MrNubbz]

Government but no politics ,this should be good  

[847badgerfan]

It's working out so far, for the most part, in another thread. I think it's worth a try. We're all adults here.

[CWSooner]

Moved from what I just posted on the other thread.
Quote from: Cincydawg on Today at 03:38:30 PM

I think when our defense spending is equal to that of the next 15 countries combined, that could be seen as a "fact" that it is obscene.  It's opinion of course, I don't know how anything could be otherwise.

Both parties spend like drunken sailors, I don't think that is a political comment.  We elect them.  I doubt anyone would get reelected for really making the effort to cut spending.

Is it equal to the defense spending of the next 15 countries?  According to these two charts (which do not agree), it is not.  Not even close.  Maybe that is just someone's opinion.

And is the amount of defense spending measured in the same way from country to country?  For instance, if we measure by spending in U.S. dollar equivalents, does $1billion buy in the U.S. what the equivalent of $1 billion buys in China?

I will gladly stipulate that there is fraud, waste, and abuse in defense spending.  (I would argue that the same thing goes on in every government program, because the incentives to spend money carefully are not nearly as strong as the incentives to spend generously.)

I think that there are arguments to be made that we have been building and are continuing to build the wrong force structure for the threats we most likely will face.

But nobody on this board has the facts at hand to either make or refute those arguments.  So all we can do is offer opinions.

And there's the big question that for a host of reasons nobody can answer objectively--should we build our defenses for the most likely threat or the most dangerous threat?

Yep.  Politicians from both parties spend like drunken sailors (and that's an insult to perfectly decent drunken sailors), but they're doing what we elect 'em to do.  And we keep re-electing them.  Over and over and over.  As Pogo wisely said, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."

[Mdot21]

https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/tom-dispatch-america-defense-budget-bigger-than-you-think/

It’s really $1.2+ trillion when you include everything that’s not accounted for in the base budget. Absolute insanity.

[Cincydawg]

The problem starts with our defense commitments.  Those oceans which to some extent protect us also make it very difficult to project power elsewhere.

We have to protect the sea lanes to get troops and supplies anywhere else.  That is massively expensive.  If the US were "isolationist" (which I am not suggesting), our defense spending could easily be $100 billion a year, we'd defend our general areas of interest and that would be that.  Nobody else could mount any realistic conventional threat to our holdings.

And of course when speaking about defending the nation we also should consider the need to defend our financial security as well.  But, fundamentally, I have long felt our System is broken beyond any realistic repair.  I think it will fail after I'm gone, but that failure could be epic, and the denouement could be disastrous.

We could have a nice shiny military and a broken country in default.

[OrangeAfroMan]

The Alabama thing?  You did some research by race, but I don't see a correlation there.  Alabama will have more hospitalizations than they can handle.....ok?  
I touched a nerve by suggesting places like Alabama are screwed because they were late to take the virus seriously.  I guess we all agree they're screwed, and if it's not what I thought, and it's not what you shared, then why is it?
.
Am I missing something here?

[847badgerfan]

Am I missing something here?

Yes. Take the Virus discussion to the proper thread.

[OrangeAfroMan]

Jesus Christ, now you're just messing with me.

[FearlessF]

Jesus has been messing with you all along

[OrangeAfroMan]

So one of you is a Russian bot?  

[Cincydawg]

So one of you is a Russian bot? 

All of us might be of course, unless you can consider our NFL careers in making this judgment I can't say.

[847badgerfan]

For those who own companies - have you applied for the PPP program yet? We did, on Friday, looking for 4 months of operating expenses. Right now is interesting, because despite the fact we are busy, some people aren't parting with their money to pay bills. AR is through the roof right now.

[Cincydawg]

Accounts Receivable?

I imagine nearly everyone is seeing that.