Trump / Musk (other than DOGE) Omnibus Thread

  • Thread starter Thread starter nycfan
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies: 12K
  • Views: 324K
  • Politics 
start spending it on Americans FDR and LBJ style.

Curiously, defense spending by percentage reached its peak under FDR (that WWII thing) dropped after the war but remained high until the end of Vietnam and been dropping fairly steadily since. Both of those had a greater % of defense spending than currently. That not to say we don't need to refocus but those aren't great examples.

Do you ever research things before you post? If you do, why don't you look at the change in corporate and farm subsidies? I suspect there's more serious fat there that can be trimmed than in overseas defense spending without harming the country.
 
05C40 said:
Post on Bluesky:

"Twitter is extremely creepy these days because 90% of the responses are bots and it’s not exactly clear why. Usually it’s not even political, it’s not selling anything, it’s just bots pretending to be people. The vibe is like boarding a city bus and realizing none of the passengers have faces."
Click to expand...
So glad I moved over to Bluesky and removed Xtter
 
I imagine a lot of us Trumpers are going to have a "Trump Christmas" with all the products he's selling. My guess is that I'm going to get a Trump watch, Golden sneakers, cologne and cuff links for my Christmas. My kids will think it's hilarious.
 
finesse said:
start spending it on Americans FDR and LBJ style.

Curiously, defense spending by percentage reached its peak under FDR (that WWII thing) dropped after the war but remained high until the end of Vietnam and been dropping fairly steadily since. Both of those had a greater % of defense spending than currently. That not to say we don't need to refocus but those aren't great examples.

Do you ever research things before you post? If you do, why don't you look at the change in corporate and farm subsidies? I suspect there's more serious fat there that can be trimmed than in overseas defense spending without harming the country.
Click to expand...

Yeah. I guess I didn't really need to research that defense spending went up under two major wars but maybe you can provide a link since that seems to be the go-to statement for everyone.

You are aware that FDR held office for a a few months before world war II started and during that time he was able to implement a number of social welfare programs? Of course you're also aware that LBJ tried to continue that legacy.

I specifically talked about social welfare spending LBJ and FDR style. I didn't advocate for defense spending FDR and LBJ style. I suspect you're aware what that implies. Do you bring up their defense spending just to win an argument or do you not really feel like those liberal social programs are worthwhile?
 
What's everybody's favorite W.C. Fields movie? I dither between You Can't Cheat an Honest Man and Never Give a Sucker an Even Break.
 
For a few years, actually.. I brought up their defense spending because you strongly implied that their social programs were at the expense of defense spending.

I don't think anyone goes to any particular effort to "win" an argument against you.
 
Ramrouser said:
I imagine a lot of us Trumpers are going to have a "Trump Christmas" with all the products he's selling. My guess is that I'm going to get a Trump watch, Golden sneakers, cologne and cuff links for my Christmas. My kids will think it's hilarious.
Click to expand...
Trump cologne smells like onions and bankruptcy.
 
finesse said:
For a few years, actually.. I brought up their defense spending because you strongly implied that their social programs were at the expense of defense spending.

I don't think anyone goes to any particular effort to "win" an argument against you.
Click to expand...

But when I say I want to "stop spending that money to protect the Estonias of the world and start spending it on Americans FDR and LBJ style" I'm implying that I want to spend it on social welfare for Americans. But if you think that somehow strongly implies that I want to increase defense spending like FDR and LBJ, I'm glad I could correct your misinterpretation.

So if you're done with your straw men, what choice do you think we should make? Do you want to decrease defense spending so that we could spend that money on other priorities, and if you do, where do you want to cut?
 
Ramrouser said:
I imagine a lot of us Trumpers are going to have a "Trump Christmas" with all the products he's selling. My guess is that I'm going to get a Trump watch, Golden sneakers, cologne and cuff links for my Christmas. My kids will think it's hilarious.
Click to expand...
I hope you enjoy the gifts and have a Merry Christmas.
 
gtyellowjacket said:
But when I say I want to "stop spending that money to protect the Estonias of the world and start spending it on Americans FDR and LBJ style" I'm implying that I want to spend it on social welfare for Americans. But if you think that somehow strongly implies that I want to increase defense spending like FDR and LBJ, I'm glad I could correct your misinterpretation.

So if you're done with your straw men, what choice do you think we should make? Do you want to decrease defense spending so that we could spend that money on other priorities, and if you do, where do you want to cut?
Click to expand...
The defense spending we most need to cut are damned near untouchable. That's those weapons systems and stuff that Congress designates to their constituents to justify their donations from defense contractors in their states. The international stuff? Most of it is a good investment. Israel? Not so much but damned near a political fact of life.

What really needs to be addressed is farm subsidies, corporate welfare and tax breaks for oil companies. There's a lot of bloat there that is not in the best interests of the nation.
 
Ramrouser said:
I imagine a lot of us Trumpers are going to have a "Trump Christmas" with all the products he's selling. My guess is that I'm going to get a Trump watch, Golden sneakers, cologne and cuff links for my Christmas. My kids will think it's hilarious.
Click to expand...
Cool—the billionaire needs your money.

Glad to hear your fam’s all doing well enough financially to spend lavishly on hilarious gifts—that damned Biden economy must be treating you all well. Joy to the world.
 
gtyellowjacket said:
To be clear, I'm not for leaving NATO. I am for shrinking our NATO commitments to the most important allies.

If Russian aggression threatens a place like Lithuania, an Ukraine style conflict funded by us and our allies serves our interests better than a commitment to put forces into combat.
Click to expand...
So (1) you would advocate essentially the same approach that the Biden Admin took with Ukraine but that most republicans including Trump criticized Biden for taking and (ii) Trump would not do this; he wouldn’t understand why Lithuania would be important to US interests.

Also, Ukraine is far more important than Lithuania and all other Eastern Europe states except for Poland. As a natural buffer state, and given its size and population, it is a clear and logical site for fighting Russian aggression.
 


Robert F. Kennedy Jr. believes the CIA had a role in assassinating his uncle, President John F. Kennedy — part of RFK Jr.'s motivation for pushing his daughter-in-law, Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, for deputy CIA director, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: President-elect Trump feels indebted to RFK Jr., his pick for secretary of Health and Human Services, for his help in the election, and is eager to please him. But there's real drama behind the scenes about whether Fox Kennedy is the right choice for the CIA's No. 2 job.

  • RFK Jr. has been telling people that Fox Kennedy — his presidential campaign manager, who is married to his son Bobby Kennedy III — would help get to the bottom of the JFK assassination, two Republican sources told Axios.
 
Mundial said:
So (1) you would advocate essentially the same approach that the Biden Admin took with Ukraine but that most republicans including Trump criticized Biden for taking and (ii) Trump would not do this; he wouldn’t understand why Lithuania would be important to US interests.

Also, Ukraine is far more important than Lithuania and all other Eastern Europe states except for Poland. As a natural buffer state, and given its size and population, it is a clear and logical site for fighting Russian aggression.
Click to expand...
Yes. Absolutely. The Biden approach of funding other people to fight our largest enemies is the way to go.

The approach of pretty much all presidents since Clinton which is to expand our NATO commitments is not the approach I would take although I would keep Poland in NATO. That's a good Ally to have as opposed to some of the ones that we have brought in.
 
finesse said:
The defense spending we most need to cut are damned near untouchable. That's those weapons systems and stuff that Congress designates to their constituents to justify their donations from defense contractors in their states. The international stuff? Most of it is a good investment. Israel? Not so much but damned near a political fact of life.

What really needs to be addressed is farm subsidies, corporate welfare and tax breaks for oil companies. There's a lot of bloat there that is not in the best interests of the nation.
Click to expand...

I'd be all for cutting corporate welfare but it's not going to get you anywhere near where you need. Corporate welfare is about $100 billion per year depending on how you define it. Tax breaks for oil companies are about $2 billion and farm subsidies are about $20 billion and there's some overlap with the corporate welfare number.

Defense spending is more than eight times that at $850b per year. Reduce that from the 3.5% of GDP that we currently spend to the around 2% that our better NATO allies in Europe spend and you're making real progress.

So if we're going to start making some hard decisions, we can't just say cut government waste or corporate welfare or NASA or whatever other peanuts approach people advocate and never get done. We have to cut defence, cut entitlements, raise taxes or keep running up the credit card. Now which one do you want to do?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top