UKRAINE-HOW TO SHOOT YOURSELF IN THE FOOT

koobookie wrote:

Rick wrote: Yes, because the military is run like our government and at least half the money is wasted. The military is a necessary expense but the people in charge are either corrupt or just ignorant.

How much of the billions we’ve already given to Ukraine didn’t go to where it was intended? You and I don’t know that answer so we have to trust the same people who have already wasted trillions over the last decades. Big government naturally creates big fraud and corruption. If you disagree with that statement, please list one large government program that doesn’t have massive waste and fraud.

Oh, let's see.... Police departments. That's a pretty large government program. Fire departments. Same thing. Department of Transportation - builds roads, bridges, interstates, etc. That has a lot of oversight, so there's not a lot of waste there.
Police and fire departments are funded by the states and states don't have printing presses like the federal government does... there's a limited amount of money that is more easily monitored. Our roads and bridges are in bad shape... you should probably rethink that one
Oooh-oooh! I know! How about Social Security? That's a massive government program that doesn't have much waste. It's run efficiently and there's not much corruption there. Really? I can counter that one in four words... SOCIAL SECURITY LOCK BOX. Where did all that money go? No private contractors, just the government agency taking in money and giving it out. Wow. What a great program, keeping our senior citizens out of the poor house.

Oh, and then there's medicaid / medicare. There may be some waste in those programs, but I'll bet it's minimal. Again, a necessary program that helps the elderly and poor. Massive fraud and waste... do some research outside the bubble

Then there's public school systems. You might think there's waste, but just ask the teachers who have to buy supplies for their classes.

This one made me laugh out loud! We spend far more money per child than any other country in the world, yet our students are closer to the bottom than they are to the top when it comes to learning performance .

I'd love to talk about this in more detail if we could take one program at a time instead of stacking many up with blanket statements.

Where did the social security money go? It was borrowed by Congress. Overall, social security is an efficient program. Money comes in, money goes out. No real opportunity for fraud or waste.

Police & fire departments are government programs, are they not? They run fairly efficiently and protect the public. Rods & bridges are on oversight - like public bidding systems. Lowest bidder gets the project. How is that wasteful. Thank goodness Biden & Dems passed the infrastructure act. Now there will be more funds available to fix those bad roads & bridges.

Public schools are necessary, Rick. You didn't ask for examples of efficiency, just waste. Show me cases of waste in public schools, Rick.

Can you show me examples of massive fraud & waste in Medicaid / Medicare?

koobookie wrote: Where did the social security money go? It was borrowed by Congress. Overall, social security is an efficient program. Money comes in, money goes out. No real opportunity for fraud or waste.

Police & fire departments are government programs, are they not? They run fairly efficiently and protect the public. Rods & bridges are on oversight - like public bidding systems. Lowest bidder gets the project. How is that wasteful. Thank goodness Biden & Dems passed the infrastructure act. Now there will be more funds available to fix those bad roads & bridges. What percentage of tax dollars in that bill actually go to roads and bridges? [\b]


Public schools are necessary, Rick. You didn't ask for examples of efficiency, just waste. Show me cases of waste in public schools, Rick. I understand that schools are necessary, but public schools are not… there’s lots of alternatives that give children better learning experiences. If spending more per student than any country in the world led to the highest scores in the world, then those investments would be wise, but our students are near the bottom, so there’s a whole lot of wasted money. That’s paying a mechanic double or triple the average rate and getting sub par repairs. You would willing waste money to help a bad mechanic? [\b]

Can you show me examples of massive fraud & waste in Medicaid / Medicare?

I’m using my cell phone and don’t have good service so will have to address your Medicare question later.

Again, it would make for a better discussion if you just focused on one program at a time instead of stacking them up with generalized statements that are not linked to reality.

You asked for examples of programs that were not wasteful. I answered. You obviously disagree. I'm not going to get into a spitting match with you on each one, but if you want to give your fact free opinion, knock yourself out.

The bottom line is that you think government is bad. You swallowed the whole Reagan lie. I think that government is good and necessary. We need regulations and laws, otherwise we descend into autocracy, but you seem to think the opposite. That's what your whole screed was about, wasn't it?

koobookie wrote: The bottom line is that you think government is bad. You swallowed the whole Reagan lie. I think that government is good and necessary. We need regulations and laws, otherwise we descend into autocracy, but you seem to think the opposite. That's what your whole screed was about, wasn't it?

You’re putting words in my mouth, I’ve never said “government is bad”… never said that and never will. I do KNOW that an ever expanding unaccountable government will naturally waste money when there is little to no oversight and there’s lots of redundancy.

We can have regulations and laws without having stupid regulations and laws. If you want to pick specific laws, regulations, and government programs that you think are good, just start with one so we can discuss it. If you don’t have enough knowledge about any individual government program or regulation, then I can understand why you want to stack up lots of them and give generalized opinions.

The Founding Fathers never imagined Presidents using executive orders to bail out college graduates who chose to spend too much going to Harvard instead of their state college. 500 to 900 billion dollars that will eventually cost. Plus it will increase inflation again.

AND, the founding fathers NEVER ENVISIONED AK 47....what is your point....other than AMERICA NEEDS TO FIGURE THIS STUFF OUT before we destroy each other.

homeagain wrote: AND, the founding fathers NEVER ENVISIONED AK 47....what is your point....other than AMERICA NEEDS TO FIGURE THIS STUFF OUT before we destroy each other.

The Founding Fathers let you own cannon and artillery! Daniel Boone took a swivel cannon to his new settlement of Boonsboro. A cannon does a lot more damage than an AK.

I’m pretty sure we’ve gone off the rails far enough in this thread so I’ll start a new one. Sorry ramage.

SOURCE please,otherwise it is hearsay