Bucket Guild | FUBU BH Forums

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... rialPage_h



This is one of the main reasons republicans/conservatives oppose creating entitlements, subsidies, institutions, and programs. Whether or not something serves a useful purpose, you can never get rid of it.

Kudos to Vice President Gore.

Your Pal,
Jubber

AKA "The Gun"
AKA "ROFeraL"

World Renowned Mexican Forklift Artiste

Alaska is staunchly Republican and their entire economy is propped up by roads to nowhere and literally the entire population getting checks in the mail from the government each month. Most agricultural states and farmers are Republican and the only reason it's even viable is massive subsidies. The military as it exists today is basically an entitlement program; when the Pentagon tries to close obsolete bases, both parties, including Republicans, cry out.

Entitlement spending is so entrenched in the US because a supermajority - both parties - keep it going.

But yeah, Al Gore is a study in what's wrong with this country - why Americans made the wrong choice.

Aestu of Bleeding Hollow...

Nihilism is a copout.

I heard someone say something along the lines of, "We need to replace congress...but my congressman is fine," as America's attitude toward these kinds of problems.

I don't understand why Alaska needed road/bridge to nowhere money when they get so much from the pipeline/oil infrastructure.

Your Pal,
Jubber

AKA "The Gun"
AKA "ROFeraL"

World Renowned Mexican Forklift Artiste

I hear that too, from every damn politician on every re-/election speech they give. "Washington's a horrible den of sin and out of control satanists! Re-elect me for my 10th term and I'll do something about it!"

Dvergar /
Quisling

Because oil is not labor intensive and Alaska has no industry other than extraction.

Aestu of Bleeding Hollow...

Nihilism is a copout.

We spend entirely too much on military spending, but god forbid anyone in Congress actually says that or else they are 'weak on the war on terror'.

hurpdurp

Brawlsack

Taking an extended hiatus from gaming

The problem is rarely how much we're spending, but how foolish and inefficiently it is being spent. The government could do so much more for so much less.

Dvergar /
Quisling

The problem with military spending isn't so much that the money could be spent better elsewhere.

-It damages the economy by soaking up skilled individuals, individual initiative and raw materials that could be better used elsewhere, and by wasting infrastructure in its service rather than building a consumer industry.

This paradigm was one of the major causes behind the ruin of the Soviet economy, and it continues to hold Russia back today because changing the government didn't change their infrastructure nor their bloated military-industrial base.

-It damages the economy by inflating government spending, increasing costs for civilian entrepreneurs who must compete for the same resources and labor, and reducing the money supply and driving up interest rates because the government has to borrow to support it, which means less and more expensive borrowing for private interests.

-It damages the economy by creating an entire class of social dependents who can't function outside the military, without getting a check from the government each month for doing absolutely nothing of value like patrolling the flight deck or guarding some installation in Virginia that's under no military threat and in no way serves our interests in the here and now

-It damages the economy by putting the country as a whole at a competitive disadvantage against other countries that aren't straining under the burden of supporting a bloated military - such as the EU and PRC.

This paradigm was one of the major causes of the decline of the Roman economy and empire.

-It damages the economy by instigating unnecessary wars that spiral out of control and could have been wholly avoided if our having an unnecessarily powerful military didn't invoke the whole "if you have a hammer..." line of thinking. Vietnam, Korea, Bosnia, Iraq - what did that get us?

Regarding the Gulf War, hypothetically, if Iraq went into Kuwait unopposed, we'd have been no worse off than the EU or PRC or Japan or any of our other rivals - so the argument that us having the military capability to intervene put us at an advantage rings hollow, because in effect all that happened was we paid other countries' tab.

-In the long term, it will damage our economy most grievously when it undermines our political stability. We are getting just a hint of it with the military undermining its CinC's orders because they choose to second-guess the Constitution.

Aestu of Bleeding Hollow...

Nihilism is a copout.

Well said Aestu.

Brawlsack

Taking an extended hiatus from gaming

But bro that's liek not technikialy Alakuh it's moar liek sum waters near Alaskuh but u no not rly.