(06-28-2017, 11:56 AM)Ragnarök_62 Wrote: [ -> ] (06-28-2017, 02:22 AM)Galen Wrote: [ -> ] (06-27-2017, 06:55 PM)Ragnarök_62 Wrote: [ -> ]And now a distraction on the other side. The Republicans said today, "Medicare needs to be cut' cause there's deadbeats on it.
Nope, lots of working poor need it, cause salaries ain't what they used to be. The GOP is living in the past, man.
There is still that small matter of 20 trillion debt and over 150 trillion in unfunded liabilities to be dealt with. Remember Gary North's pie chart of federal spending. Entitlement spending will decrease in real terms no matter who is running the show. Same for defense spending.
The debt/deficit can be relieved somewhat with.
1. Cut MIC spending by 60%
2. fix SS by popping the cap.
3. Have a top income tax bracket for those with over $1,000,000.
4. Fix drug patent laws such that pay to delay [competition] is forbidden.
5. A law where medical providers must provide their costs for service. I do not know how much a one night hospital stay will run. Also, each medical code needs to be deciphered , translated into English and a price for them as well.
6. If the above isn't enough then have a VAT to pay off the balance.
Yes, not too many things are free. However, I categorize health care as a public good since the ability to pay happens to be a lot of times less than the price of the goods and services. That is also why natural monopolies need regulations. No ideology has all of the answers.
Unfunded liabilities. Yes, most of these are pension related. These should be modified such that new entrants get a 401K, which must be funded yearly. The actual deficient part should be adjusted such that the payouts are based on yearly catch payments cojoined with converting the existing employees' pension to a 401K. The payouts would be reduced say on age.
Of course nobody will like Rags' pension reform idea. However, the fact remains, lots of public pensions are defacto bankrupt.
[That is to say, the amount owed is much greater than what can be paid. As for SS, ideally, popping the cap and if that doesn't get there, I'm OK with means testing the thing. Medicare, well let's just combine all other health programs into Medicare. Next, see the stuff numbered above. The main problem in the US wrt healthcare is that it's overpriced. If there are regulations that prop up prices, they should go. An example is the prohibition on selling health insurance across state lines. Ideally folks would just buy health insurance for extra stuff that Medicare does not provide. The prohibition of access to drugs sold in Canada, India, etc. also needs to go.
Good ideas, Mr. Rags. Who knows, maybe with some of them we can prevent an American Ragnarok
(06-28-2017, 06:55 AM)Odin Wrote: [ -> ] (06-27-2017, 03:47 AM)Galen Wrote: [ -> ]Project Veritas strikes again and shows us how useless the MSM is. More to the point even CNN knows there is no evidence backing up their Russia narrative.
You're a fucking moron if you believe anything put put by James O'Keefe.
Why is this? The video is pretty clear and he does leave the context of the conversation in the video which is very important. Here is another CNN personality saying much the same thing. Judging from how little evidence has shown up in other places, including Congress, it looks like Veritas is getting is right.
Odin, it is pretty clear what this guy is saying as well.
(06-28-2017, 11:56 AM)Ragnarök_62 Wrote: [ -> ] (06-28-2017, 02:22 AM)Galen Wrote: [ -> ] (06-27-2017, 06:55 PM)Ragnarök_62 Wrote: [ -> ]And now a distraction on the other side. The Republicans said today, "Medicare needs to be cut' cause there's deadbeats on it.
Nope, lots of working poor need it, cause salaries ain't what they used to be. The GOP is living in the past, man.
There is still that small matter of 20 trillion debt and over 150 trillion in unfunded liabilities to be dealt with. Remember Gary North's pie chart of federal spending. Entitlement spending will decrease in real terms no matter who is running the show. Same for defense spending.
The debt/deficit can be relieved somewhat with.
1. Cut MIC spending by 60%
2. fix SS by popping the cap.
3. Have a top income tax bracket for those with over $1,000,000.
4. Fix drug patent laws such that pay to delay [competition] is forbidden.
5. A law where medical providers must provide their costs for service. I do not know how much a one night hospital stay will run. Also, each medical code needs to be deciphered , translated into English and a price for them as well.
6. If the above isn't enough then have a VAT to pay off the balance.
Yes, not too many things are free. However, I categorize health care as a public good since the ability to pay happens to be a lot of times less than the price of the goods and services. That is also why natural monopolies need regulations. No ideology has all of the answers.
Unfunded liabilities. Yes, most of these are pension related. These should be modified such that new entrants get a 401K, which must be funded yearly. The actual deficient part should be adjusted such that the payouts are based on yearly catch payments cojoined with converting the existing employees' pension to a 401K. The payouts would be reduced say on age.
Of course nobody will like Rags' pension reform idea. However, the fact remains, lots of public pensions are defacto bankrupt.
[That is to say, the amount owed is much greater than what can be paid. As for SS, ideally, popping the cap and if that doesn't get there, I'm OK with means testing the thing. Medicare, well let's just combine all other health programs into Medicare. Next, see the stuff numbered above. The main problem in the US wrt healthcare is that it's overpriced. If there are regulations that prop up prices, they should go. An example is the prohibition on selling health insurance across state lines. Ideally folks would just buy health insurance for extra stuff that Medicare does not provide. The prohibition of access to drugs sold in Canada, India, etc. also needs to go.
I agree with all of this except for means-testing SS. The reason SS is so popular and has become the political "third rail" is exactly because it isn't means-tested, so it can't be spun as "welfare".
One issue that needs to be talked about that I think both inflates healthcare costs and causes people to knee-jerkingly oppose universal healthcare is that people do not want to admit that there is only so much time and money to go around and that doctors and hospitals have to make priorities. If you dare bring this up people start screaming psychotically about "OMG GOVERNMENT RATIONING!!!" and "DEATH PANELS RUN BY GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRATS!!!".
(06-29-2017, 03:27 AM)Galen Wrote: [ -> ] (06-28-2017, 06:55 AM)Odin Wrote: [ -> ] (06-27-2017, 03:47 AM)Galen Wrote: [ -> ]Project Veritas strikes again and shows us how useless the MSM is. More to the point even CNN knows there is no evidence backing up their Russia narrative.
You're a fucking moron if you believe anything put put by James O'Keefe.
Why is this? The video is pretty clear and he does leave the context of the conversation in the video which is very important. Here is another CNN personality saying much the same thing. Judging from how little evidence has shown up in other places, including Congress, it looks like Veritas is getting is right.
Odin, it is pretty clear what this guy is saying as well.
Right, and I'm sure you believe O'Keefe was telling the truth about ACORN, too.
You're a complete tool.
Also, Van Jones is a progressive activist mostly concerned about domestic issues and he was saying that in his opinion the media circus around the Russia investigation was distracting from other issues. Project Veritas took his statement out of context to make it look like he was saying the investigation itself was BS.
(06-29-2017, 07:51 AM)Odin Wrote: [ -> ]Also, Van Jones is a progressive activist mostly concerned about domestic issues and he was saying that in his opinion the media circus around the Russia investigation was distracting from other issues. Project Veritas took his statement out of context to make it look like he was saying the investigation itself was BS.
Media that suck up to President Trump remind me of the "Corpo" newspapers in Sinclair Lewis'
It Can't Happen Here. It has happened here, and Donald Trump is "Buzz Windrip".
(06-28-2017, 02:22 AM)Galen Wrote: [ -> ] (06-27-2017, 06:55 PM)Ragnarök_62 Wrote: [ -> ]And now a distraction on the other side. The Republicans said today, "Medicare needs to be cut' cause there's deadbeats on it.
Nope, lots of working poor need it, cause salaries ain't what they used to be. The GOP is living in the past, man.
There is still that small matter of 20 trillion debt and over 150 trillion in unfunded liabilities to be dealt with. Remember Gary North's pie chart of federal spending. Entitlement spending will decrease in real terms no matter who is running the show. Same for defense spending.
I guess you assume that tax revenue will be either non-existent or stagnant at the very least.
(06-29-2017, 06:34 AM)Odin Wrote: [ -> ]One issue that needs to be talked about that I think both inflates healthcare costs and causes people to knee-jerkingly oppose universal healthcare is that people do not want to admit that there is only so much time and money to go around and that doctors and hospitals have to make priorities. If you dare bring this up people start screaming psychotically about "OMG GOVERNMENT RATIONING!!!" and "DEATH PANELS RUN BY GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRATS!!!".
Of course, other countries with universal care seem to have little to no difficulty with this. They also get much better results from their systems at dramatically less cost.
(06-29-2017, 03:26 PM)David Horn Wrote: [ -> ] (06-28-2017, 02:22 AM)Galen Wrote: [ -> ] (06-27-2017, 06:55 PM)Ragnarök_62 Wrote: [ -> ]And now a distraction on the other side. The Republicans said today, "Medicare needs to be cut' cause there's deadbeats on it.
Nope, lots of working poor need it, cause salaries ain't what they used to be. The GOP is living in the past, man.
There is still that small matter of 20 trillion debt and over 150 trillion in unfunded liabilities to be dealt with. Remember Gary North's pie chart of federal spending. Entitlement spending will decrease in real terms no matter who is running the show. Same for defense spending.
I guess you assume that tax revenue will be either non-existent or stagnant at the very least.
No. It's my herd the cats allowance. Like the prior post alludes to, the stakeholders are
1. Pensioners.
2. Current employees + union if present.
3. Tax payers.
4. Current bondholders.
You add in that said cats will all have to take some sort of haircut. So, see how hard it is to actually implement something that does not kick the can down the road and thus makes the problem worse at such point. I also assume the probability for a cat fight is quite high. One can think of the cost difference/allowance shall be virtual cat mint to keep the aforementioned cat fight half way sane. by virtual cat mint, I mean reducing the hair cut in exchange for the stakeholder accepting the total package.
(06-29-2017, 06:23 PM)Ragnarök_62 Wrote: [ -> ] (06-29-2017, 03:26 PM)David Horn Wrote: [ -> ] (06-28-2017, 02:22 AM)Galen Wrote: [ -> ] (06-27-2017, 06:55 PM)Ragnarök_62 Wrote: [ -> ]And now a distraction on the other side. The Republicans said today, "Medicare needs to be cut' cause there's deadbeats on it.
Nope, lots of working poor need it, cause salaries ain't what they used to be. The GOP is living in the past, man.
There is still that small matter of 20 trillion debt and over 150 trillion in unfunded liabilities to be dealt with. Remember Gary North's pie chart of federal spending. Entitlement spending will decrease in real terms no matter who is running the show. Same for defense spending.
I guess you assume that tax revenue will be either non-existent or stagnant at the very least.
No. It's my herd the cats allowance. Like the prior post alludes to, the stakeholders are
1. Pensioners.
2. Current employees + union if present.
3. Tax payers.
4. Current bondholders.
You add in that said cats will all have to take some sort of haircut. So, see how hard it is to actually implement something that does not kick the can down the road and thus makes the problem worse at such point. I also assume the probability for a cat fight is quite high. One can think of the cost difference/allowance shall be virtual cat mint to keep the aforementioned cat fight half way sane. by virtual cat mint, I mean reducing the hair cut in exchange for the stakeholder accepting the total package.
Benjamin Franklin had something to say about that: "Either we hang together or surely we will hang separately." This is the great success of the every-man-should-carry-his-own-water message the right has ingrained in the American psyche. We're all cats now.
(06-30-2017, 07:47 AM)Odin Wrote: [ -> ]Van Jones: O'Keefe Video Is a Hoax.
Straight from the horse's mouth. You've been played, Galen. You are a complete and utter sucker.
Statement after the video was released versus a video of him giving a direct answer to a direct question. The video has more credibility. I find it ironic to have a statement about selective editing coming from CNN given their
history of selective editing.
(06-30-2017, 02:59 PM)Galen Wrote: [ -> ] (06-30-2017, 07:47 AM)Odin Wrote: [ -> ]Van Jones: O'Keefe Video Is a Hoax.
Straight from the horse's mouth. You've been played, Galen. You are a complete and utter sucker.
Statement after the video was released versus a video of him giving a direct answer to a direct question. The video has more credibility. I find it ironic to have a statement about selective editing coming from CNN given their history of selective editing.
Jesus fucking Christ, this is Sandy Hook Truther level "logic", here. You are a god-damned nutcase.
(07-01-2017, 08:55 AM)Odin Wrote: [ -> ] (06-30-2017, 02:59 PM)Galen Wrote: [ -> ] (06-30-2017, 07:47 AM)Odin Wrote: [ -> ]Van Jones: O'Keefe Video Is a Hoax.
Straight from the horse's mouth. You've been played, Galen. You are a complete and utter sucker.
Statement after the video was released versus a video of him giving a direct answer to a direct question. The video has more credibility. I find it ironic to have a statement about selective editing coming from CNN given their history of selective editing.
Jesus fucking Christ, this is Sandy Hook Truther level "logic", here. You are a god-damned nutcase.
Interesting because that is how I regard you.
(07-01-2017, 09:33 PM)Galen Wrote: [ -> ]Interesting because that is how I regard you.
I'm not the one who clearly has some underlying pathological trust issues.
“To understand the scale of the hacking attempts against election systems in the 2016 presidential election, consider South Carolina,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“On Election Day alone, there were nearly 150,000 attempts to penetrate the state’s voter-registration system, according to a post-election report by the South Carolina State Election Commission.”
“And South Carolina wasn’t even a competitive state. If hackers were that persistent against a state that President Donald Trump won comfortably, with 54.9% of the vote, it suggests they may have targeted political swing states even more.”
https://politicalwire.com/2017/07/16/sou...n-hacking/
We may have not had a free and fair election for president, Senate seats, and the House in 2016.