Discussion » Questions » Life and Society » Is gutting government at the expense of a generation born dependent on it HATEFULLY cruel or tough love in sparing future generations from

Is gutting government at the expense of a generation born dependent on it HATEFULLY cruel or tough love in sparing future generations from

the same addiction?

Posted - June 22, 2017

Responses


  • 5354
    You might ask the same question about allowing the auto industry to die in a country so culturally invested in it.

    That might even make more sense ;-))
      June 22, 2017 7:07 AM MDT
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  • 5614
    I do.
      June 24, 2017 11:53 AM MDT
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  • 46117
    No. It is not tough LOVE, it is greedy HATE.   ANYTHING to show that Democracy as we know it is WRONG and TRUMP and the GOP pigs are right. 

    That is not love, that is denial.  

    Do you seriously think this insane drift to the right, changing NOTHING but direction, makes an improvement?  NOPE.  It is just to show that them LIBERALS are WRONG. 

    They will cut off their noses to spite their stupid faces and we all suffer for it.  Not just a generation.
      June 22, 2017 8:26 AM MDT
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  • If you are all in for allowing the wealthy to steal the country from underneath you, have at it.  20 years from now most of you will be dead of old age anyways

    The US did pretty well in the 40s, 50s and early 60's from an economic perspective.  This is not tough love.  While you old whiners asnd simpleton dreamers sit around reaping your social security checks, use medicare & VA benefits think you are not doing the very same thing you complain about and using said services...you better do some soul searching.

    the US is a joke. Trump is a Joke. Conservatism is a joke, Neo-liberalism is a joke. If you believe that none of what I say is true, then you are an ignorant joke yourself.  We put the worst person alive in the White house and he is sucking us dry.  All his supporters believe this reality TV star clown gives a crap about them while he lies, cavorts, launders money, canoodles with foreign enemies. 

    I'm damn proud to be a leftist liberal scumbag and I hope the country burns down so we can build it for the people, not for the corporations, military industrial complex, and 1/10 of 1% who bought your stupid asses This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at June 22, 2017 8:55 AM MDT
      June 22, 2017 8:52 AM MDT
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  • 1233
    It's kinder than the alternative. Social programs are unsustainable. The question is only whether we wind them down now, voluntarily and in a controlled manner, or whether they collapse suddenly and catastrophically when the government goes bankrupt from the accumulated debt. This post was edited by Zeitgeist at June 24, 2017 11:42 AM MDT
      June 24, 2017 1:18 AM MDT
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  • 5354
    I would suggest you do some research before making such absolute and 'unsustainable' claims. Most of Europe is a lot more 'leftish' than the US yet doing pretty much OK.
    In my opinion the places where we are succeeding the least, is those places where we have tried to follow your absolute rules. Privatizing mail, transportation and telecommunications. In all 3 areas the quality and competence were markedly better before (when they were run by governments) than it is now, (when they are run by private enterprise and capitalist market forces). We may disagree on the secondary reasons for this decline, but you will be hard put to find data to show that it has not happened. We still have a few diehard politicians claiming that ("It just take some more time for the benefits to kick in") but they are pretty much a laughing stock these days.
    That 'experiment' have run some 20 years by now. And the effects are just too obvious and easy to see. This post was edited by JakobA the unAmerican. at June 24, 2017 2:17 AM MDT
      June 24, 2017 2:11 AM MDT
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  • 1233
    I don't support complete privatization. There is a place for a limited public sector. The free market is best when there is sufficient competition to promote excellence and drive down prices. Though when this is not case, public sector is better.

    A public sector service should ideally break even economically. Taxpayer funding of services is only desirable when it provides a true collective benefit to society e.g. roads etc.

    I'm not anti public sector, I'm anti redistribution of wealth. Services that benefit some people at the expense of others are immoral. It's theft. Taxation should also be flat rate. Taxing the wealthy disproportionately more is also theft.

    Significant redistribution of wealth is unsustainable because it promotes parasitic behavior and discourages production. The more left wing policy we have, the more it damages the economy, the more poverty is created. This in turn only creates greater demand for redistribution of wealth. It eventually creates a chain reaction that destroys the entire economy.

    Europe is not doing ok. Western civilization is up to its neck in debt and it's going to collapse unless we change course. We will eventually reach a stage where the middle class is taxed out of existence just to pay interest on the debt and there won't be enough remaining to support the poor (which will be more or less everyone).

    Just because the ship is sinking slowly doesn't mean it's not sinking. The consequences of social and political change take many decades to play out.  
    This post was edited by Zeitgeist at June 24, 2017 11:43 AM MDT
      June 24, 2017 3:48 AM MDT
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  • 5354
    As far as I know European foreign debt have not risen anywhere near as much a US foreign debt for a great many years. And this despite most European nations having far more tax funded healthcare for their citizens. Do try to make you predictions fit with reality.
      June 24, 2017 4:09 AM MDT
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  • 5354
    Such data can be hard to find, but I did manage to find a graph showing the US foreigh debt to GDP ratio between the end of WW2 and now:
      June 24, 2017 4:29 AM MDT
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  • 1233
    That's not true. It's all creative accountancy. Most of the debt is hidden. It's not just about the official national debt but the total unfunded liability. Governments are siphoning money out of government owned funds like state pensions and replacing it with a government bond. This doesn't show up on the national debt now, but the government will be forced to borrow in the future. There is a massive black hole. The debt will increase exponentially when those future obligations become due.

    GDP is bullsh*t. It's not a measure of true economic production. 

    Many European nations also have collapsing birth rates, which is a demographic time bomb. Their obligations will increase while their productive capacity decreases. 

    Debating which nations are worse off is meaningless. ALL western nations have abandoned the principles of sustainable economic development. They are ALL going to collapse. This post was edited by Zeitgeist at June 24, 2017 11:45 AM MDT
      June 24, 2017 4:39 AM MDT
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  • 5354
    So now it is a conspiracy ? And even on that means the US is even more in depth than the graph shows.

    This gets better and better ;-)) This post was edited by JakobA the unAmerican. at June 24, 2017 5:45 AM MDT
      June 24, 2017 5:30 AM MDT
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  • 1233
    Oh Jesus.... No there is no conspiracy. It's just human nature playing out.

    Governments always pretend everything is ok because it's in their self interest to do so. Even the most honorable politicians don't dare to tell the full truth for fear of triggering the crisis they hope to avoid.
      June 24, 2017 6:05 AM MDT
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  • 5354
    I tend to agree with you there. US republicans are just as god as US liberals at increasing the debts of their country.
      June 24, 2017 12:12 PM MDT
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  • 46117
    God I am jealous.  I wish I could be as smart as you are. 

      June 24, 2017 11:56 AM MDT
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