Call me old fashioned, but when I run out of money the first expense I cut is "funding my proxy war with Russia". But that's just me.
Even with the most cynical and selfish geopolitical view, this is a great example of "penny wise pound foolish". How many Active Duty US military personnel have died in that conflict? Zero.
If Russia were allowed to conquer Ukraine, the western border of NATO would be Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, then Russia's next incursion into these nations would mean US military bodies in harms way. Today, the only thing we have to do is provide the weapons the USA spent over the last 70 years designed to defeat Russians to Ukrainians that will use them. This is the cheapest and most effective war is US history.
There are massive economic benefits to USA in the years ahead:
The USA is emptying is mothballed 1970 otherwise out-of-date era military gear so that we don't have to pay to maintain it
The US government will be buying new modern replacements for our stockpiles which means massive economics boost to raw materials producers, designers, and manufacturers. All of that spending generates taxable income, creates jobs, and increases our industrial capacity for export markets (which are also replacing old Russian gear or buying new gear to defend against an aggressive Russia)
Russia has had a geopolitical grip on Europe and Asian for decades because of energy needs. Ukraine has very large oil and gas reserves and right on Europe and Asia's front doorstep, with already existing pipeline infrastructure. Ukraine is a functioning democracy that is a ready made replacement to the totalitarian Russian.
Economic stability in Europe and Asia is paramount to the USA's continued economic growth. Russia destabilizing both by holding energy hostage hurts everyone.
Call me old fashioned,
I will call you old fashioned, circa 1914. That isolation and non-interventionist idea in the USA made Europe spend at least 3 more years the decimation of WWI before the US got involved. WWII, where 291,557 American soldiers, sailors, and marines died, was a direct consequence of the long devastation of WWI. So when you're complaining about a war in Ukraine that we only have to pay a bill without spilling our blood, I call you short sighted.
But that’s just me.
Your money ideas are perfect for personal finance, however that same logic doesn't work at geopolitical scales.
This article is about continuing funding Ukraine during a government shut down, not backing out entirely or never funding Ukraine in the first place.
You're suggesting cutting funding to Ukraine. That conflict isn't a Netflix subscription you can put on pause for a month so that you can make your car payment. Planning and logistics on that level takes months. Cutting off funding would have drastic consequences.
That's a risk I'm willing to take. All the positive things you listed have already been accomplished anyway. Europe can clean up the crumbs without us.
Glad you are willing to risk other peoples lives, family and freedom because of 5 shitbird Republicans who were going to vote no on any budget because their dear leader wants them to obstruct normal functions of government.
Thanks. Now ask me about my plan to make social security optional.
Its is optional. No one is compelling you to cash those checks.
The fuck it is. I'm compelled to pay in every pay check against my will.
Oh, well duh. Of course you have to pay into it, even if you don't use it. I pay for roads I don't drive on, police that don't protect me, military jets I'll never even be allowed to touch. I pay for the salaries of those dipshit Republicans who are holding this country hostage in order to undercut an investigation into the single most criminal presidency in our history. Don't like it? Tough, grow the fuck up and quit whining out bullshit talking points from billionaires who are trying to shortchange the 99%.
Social security doesn't work that way. You are supposed to get out of it what you put in to it. But in reality it has a negative rate of return. It is worse than putting the cash under your mattress.
That's because it can also pay out in case you are disabled, so there is additional risk factors in there. Social security also needs to provide meaningful assistance at the time that you start taking from it, and needs to account for the inflation and changes in population demographics.
We pay more into it than the amount we get out as well, because the net benefit goes beyond the money you "get back" when you retire. I guess if you really don't want to pay for social security, you can take the loudest and most annoying of republican advice and "if you don't love it, leave it". Good luck, you're gonna need it. Otherwise, act like a functional adult and quit complaining about one of the few things we spend money on that actually helps people.
That's not a feature, that's a bug. I don't love it, and I'm not leaving. I just kiss that money goodbye as if I was setting it on fire every month. In the mean time I'll continue to employ Americans at my company, pay taxes, and plan for the eventual demise of all financial institutions, because if they don't fail I'll at-least still be in a better financial position than 99% of everyone else.
That’s a risk I’m willing to take.
Clearly. You'll join a long line of people before you making similar mistakes being “penny wise pound foolish”.
Europe can clean up the crumbs without us.
I'm concerned you aren't even able to exhibit capacity for your own personal self interest. If you think that Europe could take that hit without drastic hits to the USA, you're even more short sighted than I thought before. Those hits would drastically affect your daily life in the USA.
The government shutting down isn't for a reason. It's not a budgeting mechanism. It's literally just Republicans, yet again, refusing to authorize payment for the programs they already authorized.
They do this repeatedly and regularly to force additional concessions on programs they don't like. It's got nothing to do with money and everything to do with social control.
That's such a strange DNC talking point, "Programs already authorized". Program funding changes all the time.
They created a budget. They allocated money to shit. They all voted and it got approved.
Now they have to authorize payment of the thing they already said they'd pay for. It's fucking asinine.
Is that less of a talking point for you? They lie, cheat, and steal to get crap cut in the original budget negotiations, and then they refuse to pay the bill until democrats agree to ridiculous hostage demands.
And they can be renegotiated at any time. Nothing is ever set in stone.
So when are Republicans going to ask billionaires to pull their weight in funding the budget?
Define "pull their weight".
Don't pretend you don't know.
I have no idea. no one ever says what tax rate would be enough.
The Republicans really want to leave Ukraine to Russia, they're just waiting on the messaging to convert enough of their base to make it politically feasible to do so.
We're not out of money though, Republicans are just throwing a fit.
That's certainly a even more simple way to view things.
Nope, you're just wrong
Or I could call you Boris or Natasha. Lol
America doesn’t abandon our Allies the way Trump abandoned the Kurds as a gift to Russia.
I think the Afghans would like a word. Oh, they are dead.
Trump sold out the Afghans when he negotiated the Doha Agreement with the Taliban in Qatar in February 2020.
Trump handed Afghanistan over to the Taliban the same way he abandoned the Kurds in Syria
Call me old fashioned, but when I run out of money the first expense I cut is "funding my proxy war with Russia". But that's just me.
Even with the most cynical and selfish geopolitical view, this is a great example of "penny wise pound foolish". How many Active Duty US military personnel have died in that conflict? Zero.
If Russia were allowed to conquer Ukraine, the western border of NATO would be Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, then Russia's next incursion into these nations would mean US military bodies in harms way. Today, the only thing we have to do is provide the weapons the USA spent over the last 70 years designed to defeat Russians to Ukrainians that will use them. This is the cheapest and most effective war is US history.
There are massive economic benefits to USA in the years ahead:
The USA is emptying is mothballed 1970 otherwise out-of-date era military gear so that we don't have to pay to maintain it
The US government will be buying new modern replacements for our stockpiles which means massive economics boost to raw materials producers, designers, and manufacturers. All of that spending generates taxable income, creates jobs, and increases our industrial capacity for export markets (which are also replacing old Russian gear or buying new gear to defend against an aggressive Russia)
Russia has had a geopolitical grip on Europe and Asian for decades because of energy needs. Ukraine has very large oil and gas reserves and right on Europe and Asia's front doorstep, with already existing pipeline infrastructure. Ukraine is a functioning democracy that is a ready made replacement to the totalitarian Russian.
Economic stability in Europe and Asia is paramount to the USA's continued economic growth. Russia destabilizing both by holding energy hostage hurts everyone.
I will call you old fashioned, circa 1914. That isolation and non-interventionist idea in the USA made Europe spend at least 3 more years the decimation of WWI before the US got involved. WWII, where 291,557 American soldiers, sailors, and marines died, was a direct consequence of the long devastation of WWI. So when you're complaining about a war in Ukraine that we only have to pay a bill without spilling our blood, I call you short sighted.
Your money ideas are perfect for personal finance, however that same logic doesn't work at geopolitical scales.
This article is about continuing funding Ukraine during a government shut down, not backing out entirely or never funding Ukraine in the first place.
You're suggesting cutting funding to Ukraine. That conflict isn't a Netflix subscription you can put on pause for a month so that you can make your car payment. Planning and logistics on that level takes months. Cutting off funding would have drastic consequences.
That's a risk I'm willing to take. All the positive things you listed have already been accomplished anyway. Europe can clean up the crumbs without us.
Glad you are willing to risk other peoples lives, family and freedom because of 5 shitbird Republicans who were going to vote no on any budget because their dear leader wants them to obstruct normal functions of government.
Thanks. Now ask me about my plan to make social security optional.
Its is optional. No one is compelling you to cash those checks.
The fuck it is. I'm compelled to pay in every pay check against my will.
Oh, well duh. Of course you have to pay into it, even if you don't use it. I pay for roads I don't drive on, police that don't protect me, military jets I'll never even be allowed to touch. I pay for the salaries of those dipshit Republicans who are holding this country hostage in order to undercut an investigation into the single most criminal presidency in our history. Don't like it? Tough, grow the fuck up and quit whining out bullshit talking points from billionaires who are trying to shortchange the 99%.
Social security doesn't work that way. You are supposed to get out of it what you put in to it. But in reality it has a negative rate of return. It is worse than putting the cash under your mattress.
That's because it can also pay out in case you are disabled, so there is additional risk factors in there. Social security also needs to provide meaningful assistance at the time that you start taking from it, and needs to account for the inflation and changes in population demographics.
We pay more into it than the amount we get out as well, because the net benefit goes beyond the money you "get back" when you retire. I guess if you really don't want to pay for social security, you can take the loudest and most annoying of republican advice and "if you don't love it, leave it". Good luck, you're gonna need it. Otherwise, act like a functional adult and quit complaining about one of the few things we spend money on that actually helps people.
That's not a feature, that's a bug. I don't love it, and I'm not leaving. I just kiss that money goodbye as if I was setting it on fire every month. In the mean time I'll continue to employ Americans at my company, pay taxes, and plan for the eventual demise of all financial institutions, because if they don't fail I'll at-least still be in a better financial position than 99% of everyone else.
Clearly. You'll join a long line of people before you making similar mistakes being “penny wise pound foolish”.
I'm concerned you aren't even able to exhibit capacity for your own personal self interest. If you think that Europe could take that hit without drastic hits to the USA, you're even more short sighted than I thought before. Those hits would drastically affect your daily life in the USA.
The government shutting down isn't for a reason. It's not a budgeting mechanism. It's literally just Republicans, yet again, refusing to authorize payment for the programs they already authorized.
They do this repeatedly and regularly to force additional concessions on programs they don't like. It's got nothing to do with money and everything to do with social control.
That's such a strange DNC talking point, "Programs already authorized". Program funding changes all the time.
They created a budget. They allocated money to shit. They all voted and it got approved.
Now they have to authorize payment of the thing they already said they'd pay for. It's fucking asinine.
Is that less of a talking point for you? They lie, cheat, and steal to get crap cut in the original budget negotiations, and then they refuse to pay the bill until democrats agree to ridiculous hostage demands.
And they can be renegotiated at any time. Nothing is ever set in stone.
So when are Republicans going to ask billionaires to pull their weight in funding the budget?
Define "pull their weight".
Don't pretend you don't know.
I have no idea. no one ever says what tax rate would be enough.
The Republicans really want to leave Ukraine to Russia, they're just waiting on the messaging to convert enough of their base to make it politically feasible to do so.
We're not out of money though, Republicans are just throwing a fit.
That's certainly a even more simple way to view things.
Nope, you're just wrong
Or I could call you Boris or Natasha. Lol America doesn’t abandon our Allies the way Trump abandoned the Kurds as a gift to Russia.
I think the Afghans would like a word. Oh, they are dead.
Trump sold out the Afghans when he negotiated the Doha Agreement with the Taliban in Qatar in February 2020.
Trump handed Afghanistan over to the Taliban the same way he abandoned the Kurds in Syria
Lol sure. And biden was powerless.