Medicare, Defense or Social Security?

[Violet]

Almost all of it could be better spent. That doesn't mean we shouldn't spend a great deal on defense (and especially offense).

How much is enough? How many nukes do we need to ensure our safety? From my perspective, even one is one too many. How many tens of millions do we need to spend on each aircraft while our foot soldeirs don't have enough basic equipment? Now, imagine spending those 100s of billions of dollars on efforts to bring peace. Would that not also make us more safe?

If you don't have any nukes, you are defenseless in a world that has them. We are kept in check by each of us not wanting to be annihilated. The destruction is mutually assured. Why the USA didn't rip every other nation into shreds when it finally developed nukes is beyond me. We missed our window of advantage. Maybe there was a good reason for it though. As for how many is enough: I do not know, but i don't see how you can have enough tactical nukes until you have too many to use.

As for aircraft, it depends on how good it is and what kind of war you are fighting. Are you suggesting that the infantry does not have basic equipment?

Peace is only achievable through death. No, it would not make you more safe to disarm yourself. Switzerland may be 'neutral', but it only remains so because it has an army and nobody wants their little chunk of land anyway.

[Shell B]

Please do not misunderstand. I did not mean to imply our system is flawless,only that it works.

That it is working is great. It works for us too, but only to an extent.

Perhaps you aren't making a broad generalisation.However,your comments seem typically judgmental and ignorant based on facile observation rather than evidence.

No, not typically judgmental. I am being judgmental with good reason. What about my comments gives you the idea that I am ignorant of how social security works good for some and not for others? Do I need to point out that I have paid thousands of dollars into social security and a severely mentally disabled family member has not seen a penny of it? Because of the hopeless flaws in the social security system of the U.S., I not only have paid all of that money, but I give all that I can to that family member, because he cannot work. If social security worked the way it is supposed to, he would be able to get by without my help and the help of others. (Don't bother saying it is a process, because we have been through the process exactly as the set it up and he meets ALL of the criteria.)

As for jumping through hoops. Here Welfare payments are made under the terms set by the Social Security Act (1947). The rationale is " welfare is for the needy,not the greedy"

Yes, well I don't live there. Welfare here is for whoever is willing to sacrifice their vagina to have enough kids to keep the checks coming.

The applicant must prove: citizenship and proof of age. Details about last job and reasons for leaving. (which had better be good) Full details of all assets and income from any source,including cash in hand.

The unemployed are given diaries,and are obliged to approach a set number of employers each week,who need to sign the diary. Failure to comply results in suspension of benefits . This is a small part of what is called "the works test". Penalties can be severe.


Single parents are paid a pension until the youngest child is 8. A that time the pension ceases. They must apply for unemployment and undertake training.

Oh, yes. We have a system much like that as well. It's easy to bullshit.

IF you are going to make claims about welfare recipients, I suggest you you make very sure of your facts.

I believe that you have made the mistake of thinking I was bullshitting about welfare recipients without making sure of my facts. I don't know if you are aware of the fact that social security and welfare are not the same in the United States. I was not making claims about welfare recipients. I was talking about social security recipients. Furthermore, I was not making claims about all of them. If you look at my post, you will see that I made mention of my experience. In my experience, it is an effort in futility. You can feed your money into a system that works in your country. I should be able to make the decision about whether I want to feed my money into a system that does not work, to the best of my knowledge, in my country.

[Rev. Rye]

There are many colossal hemorrhages of resources in the United States, including Medicare/Medicaid, Social Security and Department of Defense.

So in this thread, I ask, what and why you'd cut it.

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I'd cut DoD funding to half of what it is now, but leave other things intact.

Yes. Even if we do manage to cut Defense spending by half, we'd still be the closest to our biggest rival: The European Union. With regards to actual countries, it'd still be over three times the number two: China.

Meanwhile, Social Security is in crisis, and healthcare is undergoing a massive overhaul. Why cut them?

[Minimalist]

Meanwhile, Social Security is in crisis

Social Security is not in "crisis."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/heidi-hart...17497.html

Leno said: "The Congressional Budget Office reports that Social Security will run a $45 billion deficit this year. They are $45 billion in the hole. Just establishing itself as the federal government's most successful program."

The $45 billion figure that Leno cites is misleading. It reflects the projected status at the end of 2011 of Social Security's combined Trust Fund (the Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance Trust Funds) without taking into account interest earned on the system's government issued bonds. The Congressional Budget Office projects that if this interest is included, the Social Security Trust Fund will run a surplus in 2011 of $72 billion.

Now, Medicare does have a problem....but Republicolibertarianazi shitwits managed to prevent any real reform which might have addressed that problem. Can't allow problems to be solved. That might harm future fund raising.

[reverendjeremiah]

Republicolibertarianazi shitwits

WOW! Can I quote you on that one Min?

P.S. It doesnt sound flattering

[Minimalist]

Sure.

Funny thing is, they apparently don't think it is an insult.

(But it is.)

[KichigaiNeko]

---

Please do not misunderstand. I did not mean to imply our system is flawless,only that it works.

That it is working is great. It works for us too, but only to an extent.

Perhaps you aren't making a broad generalisation.However,your comments seem typically judgmental and ignorant based on facile observation rather than evidence.

No, not typically judgmental. I am being judgmental with good reason. What about my comments gives you the idea that I am ignorant of how social security works good for some and not for others? Do I need to point out that I have paid thousands of dollars into social security and a severely mentally disabled family member has not seen a penny of it? Because of the hopeless flaws in the social security system of the U.S., I not only have paid all of that money, but I give all that I can to that family member, because he cannot work. If social security worked the way it is supposed to, he would be able to get by without my help and the help of others. (Don't bother saying it is a process, because we have been through the process exactly as the set it up and he meets ALL of the criteria.)

As for jumping through hoops. Here Welfare payments are made under the terms set by the Social Security Act (1947). The rationale is " welfare is for the needy,not the greedy"

Yes, well I don't live there. Welfare here is for whoever is willing to sacrifice their vagina to have enough kids to keep the checks coming.

The applicant must prove: citizenship and proof of age. Details about last job and reasons for leaving. (which had better be good) Full details of all assets and income from any source,including cash in hand.

The unemployed are given diaries,and are obliged to approach a set number of employers each week,who need to sign the diary. Failure to comply results in suspension of benefits . This is a small part of what is called "the works test". Penalties can be severe.


Single parents are paid a pension until the youngest child is 8. A that time the pension ceases. They must apply for unemployment and undertake training.

Oh, yes. We have a system much like that as well. It's easy to bullshit.

IF you are going to make claims about welfare recipients, I suggest you you make very sure of your facts.

I believe that you have made the mistake of thinking I was bullshitting about welfare recipients without making sure of my facts. I don't know if you are aware of the fact that social security and welfare are not the same in the United States. I was not making claims about welfare recipients. I was talking about social security recipients. Furthermore, I was not making claims about all of them. If you look at my post, you will see that I made mention of my experience. In my experience, it is an effort in futility. You can feed your money into a system that works in your country. I should be able to make the decision about whether I want to feed my money into a system that does not work, to the best of my knowledge, in my country.

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[Minimalist]

That was 30 seconds of my life wasted reading a lot of pointless gibberish.

Please go blow the koran out your ass.

[Jaysyn]

A bunch of stupid preaching about a pedophile & his cult.

How many times is this mouthbreather going to be allowed to break forum rules before someone whips out the banhammer?

[Minimalist]

A bunch of stupid preaching about a pedophile & his cult.

How many times is this mouthbreather going to be allowed to break forum rules before someone whips out the banhammer?

Yeah...but that applies to asswipe xtians, too.