I know you said conservative and not Republican, but heck, I wish the Republicans would get behind some spending controls too.
President-elect Trump's appointments
- Thread starter crimsonaudio
- Start date
Along those lines, I put this on FB about 9 years ago:
This is a quote from Pres. Eisenhower as relayed in the Adam Hamilton book, "Making Sense Of The Bible." I thought it was really profound. "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some 50 miles of concrete highway. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. This, I repeat, is the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron."
70% of the country is living paycheck to paycheck.
Just thought a reality check might be in order.......
Carry on gents......
But just as every politician pretends they don't understand, there are two sides to every equation. If we live paycheck to paycheck as a society all of the time, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy that you can't live any other way. Money in simply has to be greater than money out most months. Or to state in basic micro-economic terms, demand pushes up prices if we keep buying more and more. I know too many people who only know how to rent the best place they can afford, buy the most expensive car they can afford, spend all the money they just received from work, borrow against their next paycheck for things they don't need right then to fully buy into the idea that we as a country are really struggling solely due to outside forces that are manipulating us. I'm not saying our system is fair or even remotely good enough, but we need a reality check on our personal spending just as much as a reality check on our economy design and the percent of poor people required to make capitalism work.70% of the country is living paycheck to paycheck.
Just thought a reality check might be in order.......
Carry on gents......
Go ahead and find evidence to back up that asinine assertion, if you would.
The sky is also blue except when it's not.70% of the country is living paycheck to paycheck.
Just thought a reality check might be in order.......
Carry on gents......
Yes....and how does this work?
50% of the federal budget is healthcare/Medicare/Social Security
11% is interest on the debt.
So.....a Republican pipes up and says, "Next year instead of increasing Social Security by 2%, I think we ought to increase it but by only 1%."
News media and Democrats: Republicans Propose Social Security Cuts To Most Vulnerable!!!
Or flip the page.
The defense department is 13% of the budget. Democrat says, "I think we should stop building nearly so many missiles, we already have enough to blow up the world 400 times."
Republican and Fox News - Democrats Propose Weakening US Security With Defense Cuts
90% of the budget is essentially walled off as "if you even try to reduce one outlay, you're going to get smashed in an election."
I mean, I agree with you as a matter of POLICY REALITY - but POLITICAL REALITY means we will keep pretending that any proposed "reduction in increase" is a Draconian cut that will take away grandma's diabetes medicine and throw her out in the street.
And as far as raising taxes:
a) Republicans aren't going to do it period
b) Look at how many rich Democrats there are as well
c) the rich can afford accountants, attorneys, and "legal" ways to reduce their tax burden
d) and they can always just lay off the number of employees necessary to pay the increase, too
Can't raise taxes.
Can't cut spending.
And that's why we are where we are.
Rump ain't gon' make that better. They've been duped. I can't help but point out another populace of a nation not all that long ago which got on board with a problematic dictator due to economic situations.70% of the country is living paycheck to paycheck.
Just thought a reality check might be in order.......
Carry on gents......
This seems like an excellent choice to me. I have no issues with this nomination.
Washington Post gift link
Trump picks Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon for labor secretary
Chavez-DeRemer’s selection marks a sharp departure from typical Republican nominations to the position.
Chavez-DeRemer’s selection was a surprise in Washington and marked an unusual nod toward the labor movement, whose rank-and-file members often embraced Trump during the election. DeRemer, 56, is a moderate Republican who has served on bipartisan congressional caucuses and supported pro-union legislation. She lost her reelection bid this month.
Her nomination was fiercely opposed by many business leaders.
Politico reported that the Teamsters pushed for her selection. The powerful transportation workers union with 1.3 million members strengthened ties to the Republican Party this year when O’Brien declined to endorse in the presidential election and also spoke at the Republican National Convention.
Kara Deniz, a Teamsters spokeswoman, called Chavez-DeRemer “a strong advocate for workers.”
Trump’s pick of Chavez-DeRemer is another nod toward the populist energy that helped elect him and acknowledges his support from union members and working-class voters. But it could put her at odds with other parts of the administration aligned with the business industry.
Under Trump, the agency’s leadership has been expected to promote a more business-friendly agenda and reverse Biden-era efforts to champion unions. But the agency’s direction is less clear with the selection of Chavez-DeRemer and could be friendlier to workers and unions than previously thought.
Washington Post gift link
Trump picks Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon for labor secretary
Chavez-DeRemer’s selection marks a sharp departure from typical Republican nominations to the position.
Chavez-DeRemer’s selection was a surprise in Washington and marked an unusual nod toward the labor movement, whose rank-and-file members often embraced Trump during the election. DeRemer, 56, is a moderate Republican who has served on bipartisan congressional caucuses and supported pro-union legislation. She lost her reelection bid this month.
Her nomination was fiercely opposed by many business leaders.
Politico reported that the Teamsters pushed for her selection. The powerful transportation workers union with 1.3 million members strengthened ties to the Republican Party this year when O’Brien declined to endorse in the presidential election and also spoke at the Republican National Convention.
Kara Deniz, a Teamsters spokeswoman, called Chavez-DeRemer “a strong advocate for workers.”
Trump’s pick of Chavez-DeRemer is another nod toward the populist energy that helped elect him and acknowledges his support from union members and working-class voters. But it could put her at odds with other parts of the administration aligned with the business industry.
Under Trump, the agency’s leadership has been expected to promote a more business-friendly agenda and reverse Biden-era efforts to champion unions. But the agency’s direction is less clear with the selection of Chavez-DeRemer and could be friendlier to workers and unions than previously thought.
What Dr. Oz has said about changing Medicare
The heart surgeon turned TV star is President-elect Donald Trump's pick to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
www.newsweek.com
Asked how he would strengthen Medicare if elected, he told the AARP that he would do so by expanding Medicare Advantage plans. "These plans are popular among seniors, consistently provide quality care and have a needed incentive to keep costs low," he said.
In June 2020, Oz co-authored a Forbes article with George Halvorson, the former CEO of Kaiser Permanente, that proposed a "Medicare Advantage for All" system that they dubbed "Medical Advantage."
The plan proposed eliminating employer-provided insurance so every American who is not on Medicaid would be enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan. Doing so would "give security to all Americans concerned about the quality and cost of care," they wrote.
"We could fund this universal coverage entirely with full financial security by using an affordable 20 percent payroll tax, which is close to the amount most employers currently spend to buy insured care," Oz and Halvorson wrote.
Interesting, to say the least.What Dr. Oz has said about changing Medicare
The heart surgeon turned TV star is President-elect Donald Trump's pick to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Asked how he would strengthen Medicare if elected, he told the AARP that he would do so by expanding Medicare Advantage plans. "These plans are popular among seniors, consistently provide quality care and have a needed incentive to keep costs low," he said.
In June 2020, Oz co-authored a Forbes article with George Halvorson, the former CEO of Kaiser Permanente, that proposed a "Medicare Advantage for All" system that they dubbed "Medical Advantage."
The plan proposed eliminating employer-provided insurance so every American who is not on Medicaid would be enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan. Doing so would "give security to all Americans concerned about the quality and cost of care," they wrote.
"We could fund this universal coverage entirely with full financial security by using an affordable 20 percent payroll tax, which is close to the amount most employers currently spend to buy insured care," Oz and Halvorson wrote.
Not much talk about Oz's fraudulent ventures over the years. Seems that would be important.
But Medicare Advantage is a mess and the push for it concerns me, with good reasons.
That doesn't seem to add up.What Dr. Oz has said about changing Medicare
The heart surgeon turned TV star is President-elect Donald Trump's pick to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Asked how he would strengthen Medicare if elected, he told the AARP that he would do so by expanding Medicare Advantage plans. "These plans are popular among seniors, consistently provide quality care and have a needed incentive to keep costs low," he said.
In June 2020, Oz co-authored a Forbes article with George Halvorson, the former CEO of Kaiser Permanente, that proposed a "Medicare Advantage for All" system that they dubbed "Medical Advantage."
The plan proposed eliminating employer-provided insurance so every American who is not on Medicaid would be enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan. Doing so would "give security to all Americans concerned about the quality and cost of care," they wrote.
"We could fund this universal coverage entirely with full financial security by using an affordable 20 percent payroll tax, which is close to the amount most employers currently spend to buy insured care," Oz and Halvorson wrote.
Under no circumstances should Hegseth be confirmed. This guy should be kept away from any position of leadership.
The Atlantic Gift Link
Donald Trump’s Most Dangerous Cabinet Pick
Pete Hegseth considers himself to be at war with basically everybody to Trump’s left, and it is by no means clear that he means war metaphorically.
Excerpt:
Where Hegseth’s thinking begins venturing into truly odd territory is his argument, developed in Battle for the American Mind, that the entire basic design of the U.S. public education system is the product of a century-long, totally successful communist plot. Hegseth is not just hyperventilating about the 1619 Project, Howard Zinn, or other left-wing fads, as conservatives often do. Instead he argues that the system’s design is a Marxist scheme with roots going back to the founding of the republic. The deist heresies of Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, he writes, laid the groundwork to implant communist thought into the school system. Then, “American Progressives in the late 1800s blended the idea of Marxist government with aspects from the Social Gospel and the belief in an American national destiny in order to make Marxism more palatable to Americans.”
The nefarious plan to turn America communist involves steps that appear anodyne to the untrained eye. “Yes, our modern social sciences—like ‘political science,’ previously known as ‘politics,’ and ‘social studies,’ previously known as individual disciplines like ‘history, economics, geography, and philosophy’—are byproducts of Marxist philosophy,” he writes. “Let that sink in: the manner in which we study politics, history, and economics in American schools—public and private—today is the product of Marxists. That was always the plan, and it worked.” Hegseth will no longer sit back and allow communist indoctrination to sap and impurify our precious bodily fluids.
The Marxist conspiracy has also, according to Hegseth, begun creeping into the U.S. military, the institution he is now poised to run. His most recent book calls for a straightforward political purge of military brass who had the gall to obey Democratic administrations: “Fire any general who has carried water for Obama and Biden’s extraconstitutional and agenda-driven transformation of our military.” Trump appears to be thinking along similar lines. He is reportedly working on an executive order that will fast-track the removal of officers “lacking in requisite leadership qualities” and compiling a list of officers involved in the Afghanistan retreat, who will likewise be shoved out.
To what end? Trump has already signaled his interest in two revolutionary changes to the Defense Department’s orientation. One is to legalize war crimes, or at least cease enforcement of the rules of war. The president-elect has enthusiastically endorsed the use of illegal military methods and has pardoned American soldiers who committed atrocities against detainees and unarmed civilians, following a loud campaign by Hegseth on Fox News.
The Atlantic Gift Link
Donald Trump’s Most Dangerous Cabinet Pick
Pete Hegseth considers himself to be at war with basically everybody to Trump’s left, and it is by no means clear that he means war metaphorically.
Excerpt:
Where Hegseth’s thinking begins venturing into truly odd territory is his argument, developed in Battle for the American Mind, that the entire basic design of the U.S. public education system is the product of a century-long, totally successful communist plot. Hegseth is not just hyperventilating about the 1619 Project, Howard Zinn, or other left-wing fads, as conservatives often do. Instead he argues that the system’s design is a Marxist scheme with roots going back to the founding of the republic. The deist heresies of Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, he writes, laid the groundwork to implant communist thought into the school system. Then, “American Progressives in the late 1800s blended the idea of Marxist government with aspects from the Social Gospel and the belief in an American national destiny in order to make Marxism more palatable to Americans.”
The nefarious plan to turn America communist involves steps that appear anodyne to the untrained eye. “Yes, our modern social sciences—like ‘political science,’ previously known as ‘politics,’ and ‘social studies,’ previously known as individual disciplines like ‘history, economics, geography, and philosophy’—are byproducts of Marxist philosophy,” he writes. “Let that sink in: the manner in which we study politics, history, and economics in American schools—public and private—today is the product of Marxists. That was always the plan, and it worked.” Hegseth will no longer sit back and allow communist indoctrination to sap and impurify our precious bodily fluids.
The Marxist conspiracy has also, according to Hegseth, begun creeping into the U.S. military, the institution he is now poised to run. His most recent book calls for a straightforward political purge of military brass who had the gall to obey Democratic administrations: “Fire any general who has carried water for Obama and Biden’s extraconstitutional and agenda-driven transformation of our military.” Trump appears to be thinking along similar lines. He is reportedly working on an executive order that will fast-track the removal of officers “lacking in requisite leadership qualities” and compiling a list of officers involved in the Afghanistan retreat, who will likewise be shoved out.
To what end? Trump has already signaled his interest in two revolutionary changes to the Defense Department’s orientation. One is to legalize war crimes, or at least cease enforcement of the rules of war. The president-elect has enthusiastically endorsed the use of illegal military methods and has pardoned American soldiers who committed atrocities against detainees and unarmed civilians, following a loud campaign by Hegseth on Fox News.
From quid pro quo in the Trump University case to doing her best to overturn the Affordable Care Act to election denier, Pam Bondi's repugnant actions are well-documented. And there's even more:
Pam Bondi failed Brevard and Florida by turning blind eye toward justice | Torres
Torres: Bondi had a chance to do something really special during her time as Florida's top prosecutor. She didn't.
www.floridatoday.com
Agree on Hegseth... I can't believe how anyone with military ties can support Trump. Starting with the horrible comments he has made about our wounded and fallen, and Senator McCain. And now to institute a "pogrom at the Pentagon" with Hegseth to cull officers who did their job under the constitution and the rules of the military. Shameful, and I hope the Senate finally shows some backbone, morals, and ethics.
Is there anyone who seriously believes Trump's cabinet picks so far are not complete disasters and indicate a worrying direction for the incoming administration?
Most of his picks so far are more about tearing down specific departments rather than professionally heading and administering them.
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