The Match Cut Presidential Dog and Pony Show

[Dukefrukem]

Edit: Responding to Duke, posting from the phone browser sucks.

That's precisely what I mean - everything is fine for you NOW, and you're convinced that it can be for everyone if only somehow they didn't screw themselves over, instead of pulling themselves by the bootstraps and becoming the next Bezos, because that is a thing that people can actually do? The greatest success of ramoant capitalism is definitely turning everyone against each other and measuring everything in life in terms of money.

You know what's smart? You know what I didn't do? I didn't take out $250,000 in student loans to major in history. I also didn't pay $100k for my undergraduate degree and decide... "hey you know what... I can't pay for these loans so I'm going BACK to a private university... something I can't afford... deffer my loans, go further into debt and pray on some future student loan forgiveness program that I'll put on the taxpayers"

All of these candidates... if they want to fix something like the price of education... STOP ALLOWING GOVERNMENT BACKED LOANS! The problem will go away overnight.

[Irish]

I didn't take out $250,000 in student loans to major in history.

If more people majored in history, dudes like Donald Trump and Boris Johnson would never get near public office.

New proposal. Let's call it "The Duke Plan."

- All liberal arts degrees are free.

- All STEM degrees now cost double.

[Skitch]

I wanna start this post by saying I've only breezed over ya'lls posts, and I'm absolutely not responding to any one person. I've just had a couple and feel inclined to throw my two cents out there as an American.

I don't personally know if socialized or free market medicine is better.

I do know, my health care for my family is expensive as f u c k .

Socialized health care/health care for all/obamacare, whatever you want to call it, I believe will not work in this country as it is now. Thats because our politicians are absolutely corrupt, and will only allow such a system if they get their piece of the money pie. And theyre all bought and paid for by big med, so thats why it will always be impossible until the whole system crumbles and is rebuilt.

[sarcasm]Its great how our politicians who enjoy lifelong free health care get to vote on whether or not their constituents should have such a thing.

That...is absolute corruption.

[Dukefrukem]

If more people majored in history, dudes like Donald Trump and Boris Johnson would never get near public office.

New proposal. Let's call it "The Duke Plan."

- All liberal arts degrees are free.

- All STEM degrees now cost double.

I like it. Where do I vote for this?

[Dukefrukem]

You know who has free healthcare? France.

A guy I know broke his ankle crashing his moped over there. Came back to the US to see his doctor... his doctor was "horrified" at the care he received in France. 80% of what they were told in France was incorrect. He was told it was only a broken fibula. Well he broke both his fibula and the tibula and they left his ankle dislocated.

You get what you pay for.

[Skitch]

A guy I know (American on vacation in Greece) on the radio broke his wrist (hardcore). He went to hospital and all fixed for free, he said it was amazing.

*shrug*

Repeat, I HAVE NO FIRST HAND KNOWLEDGE, I KNOW NOTHING.

New season of The Chef Show, now on Netflix.

[baby doll]

Average life expectancy in France: 82.27 years
Average life expectancy in the US: 78.69 years

[Dukefrukem]

Average life expectancy in France: 82.27 years
Average life expectancy in the US: 78.69 years

Yeh that's because Americans are fat fucks and a third of them die from heart disease. Not because Frances doctors are better.

[Dukefrukem]

buttigieg is killin it right now btw

[transmogrifier]

Yeh that's because Americans are fat fucks and a third of them die from heart disease. Not because Frances doctors are better.

Average life expectancy NZ: 81.96 - and we are third fattest in the OECD.

Guess what kind of medical system we have.

The two countries I have lived in have government-controlled medical care. It is fucking great.

[baby doll]

Canada's is 82.30 and we're definitely fatter on average than the French.

[Dukefrukem]

Canada's is 82.30 and we're definitely fatter on average than the French.

We also shoot each other a lot.

[Ezee E]

There certainly needs to be some revision in healthcare. I'm not educated enough to make the call, but I think medicine is insanely priced in that it only benefits the corporation. There should be some type of mark-up max % or something in that regard.

Mental health could probably be looked at too, which is a whole other can of worms. Many of the free help that's out there could certainly be advertised easier.

And it's confusing as hell to get a simple check-up which could probably catch a lot of things ahead of time for people.

Those are my callouts for the health system...

[Ezee E]

If I were to chime in on education, my own idea would be to reward students that enter the field that they were trained on. So if you go into trade school for an electrician, and then become one... maybe there is some loan relief.

But if you do Duke's method, which PLENTY of people do, and sometimes even go to Grad School afterwards... Maybe they need a free accounting class to help them examine their finances.

[[ETM]]

buttigieg is killin it right now btw

He has no real support. He's the textbook Manchurian Candidate and his 15 minutes are pretty much over.

[Dukefrukem]

There certainly needs to be some revision in healthcare. I'm not educated enough to make the call, but I think medicine is insanely priced in that it only benefits the corporation. There should be some type of mark-up max % or something in that regard.

Mental health could probably be looked at too, which is a whole other can of worms. Many of the free help that's out there could certainly be advertised easier.

And it's confusing as hell to get a simple check-up which could probably catch a lot of things ahead of time for people.

Those are my callouts for the health system...

Bernie actually has a decent plan for this; It's tax corporations (some kind of tiered tax) instead of having corporations pay for private health care. It would be cheaper for the companies, and (I think) it would help pay for a portion of the system. I don't hate that plan. I hate everything else he is proposing.

[MadMan]

It's great to talk about free healthcare, free education, etc... But are you willing to give up 20% more of your paycheck as a result?

I feel like I do already. I have healthcare through my work that I pay for and I put some of my paycheck into a 401k. Plus paying into Medicare and Social Security of course.

Also Bernie is not a socialist or a commie. At most he's like FDR or LBJ.

I expect those asking how to pay for social programs also question the US' gross military overspending. Right? Yet I never see that covered.

[Dukefrukem]

I expect those asking how to pay for social programs also question the US' gross military overspending. Right? Yet I never see that covered.

Trump's biggest flaw. The GOP is supposed to be conservative on their spending. Trump is not.

[baby doll]

Trump's biggest flaw. The GOP is supposed to be conservative on their spending. Trump is not.

The Republicans under George W. Bush also ran up huge deficits, cutting taxes on the highest earners while funding the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Deficit spending is only a problem when Democrats do it.

[Dukefrukem]

The Republicans under George W. Bush also ran up huge deficits, cutting taxes on the highest earners while funding the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Deficit spending is only a problem when Democrats do it.

I mean, we were at war then. He still didn't come close to Obama spending during war. That has to say something.

[baby doll]

I mean, we were at war then. He still didn't come close to Obama spending during war. That has to say something.

First of all, the US is still at war, officially in Afghanistan and semi-officially in Iraq. Trump's spurious legal justification for the assassination of Gen. Soleimani rests on congress' 2003 authorization of the Iraq war, and even if the US does negotiate an end to the war with the Taliban, a considerable number of American boots would undoubtedly remain on Afghan ground.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't military spending separate from the official government budget? That is, the deficit numbers under Bush might only appear smaller than the numbers under Obama because they don't include the costs of the wars?

[Dukefrukem]

First of all, the US is still at war, officially in Afghanistan and semi-officially in Iraq. Trump's spurious legal justification for the assassination of Gen. Soleimani rests on congress' 2003 authorization of the Iraq war, and even if the US does negotiate an end to the war with the Taliban, a considerable number of American boots would undoubtedly remain on Afghan ground.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't military spending separate from the official government budget? That is, the deficit numbers under Bush might only appear smaller than the numbers under Obama because they don't include the costs of the wars?

No it's from the same book. It's why Trump is getting so much attention with his military budget today.

And I'm aware we still in the Middle East. My point was Bush started Desert Storm 2. That takes a considerable spending hike to kick-start that effort.

[baby doll]

No it's from the same book. It's why Trump is getting so much attention with his military budget today.

And I'm aware we still in the Middle East. My point was Bush started Desert Storm 2. That takes a considerable spending hike to kick-start that effort.

I did some Googling, and interestingly the base budget for the Department of Defence shows a steady but not dramatic increase between 2000 and 2010, followed by a slight falling off until 2018, rather than a sudden spike in 2001-2003. Of course, these numbers don't include (among other things) Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO), which is effectively a slush fund for the military (to quote Mick Mulvaney). (The 2020 OCO sets aside 9.2 billion dollars for Trump's wall, which will not be built overseas.) According to one estimate (see previous link), the annual budget for the US military runs to about 1.2542 trillion dollars a year, or about a quarter of government spending.

According to the Atlantic, if Bernie Sanders got everything he's promising, the federal budget would balloon to 50-60 trillion over 10 years, or 5-6 trillion per year. Is that number unsustainable? In 2018, the US took in 3.3 trillion in taxes, inflation is low right now, and the US Treasury can't run out of money, so why not?

[Irish]

Trump's biggest flaw. The GOP is supposed to be conservative on their spending. Trump is not.

There has never been a Republic administration during your lifetime that was "conservative on their spending."

[Dukefrukem]

There has never been a Republic administration during your lifetime that was "conservative on their spending."

So what? I just mean in principle. Dems are for more government, GPO is for less. Spending is a byproduct.