Kamala Harris - Democratic candidate for POTUS - discussion thread

[Bodhisattva]

I've sold to national homebuilders

I've also worked in non-IT procurement for a global multinational, first job out of college. Saw tons of waste there too. Tons. Waste is a problem everywhere, not just in IT and not just with the Government. You don't want to believe it that's fine, I've seen it with my own eyes

You are trying to equate the two. Apples and turds.

 

[Jon]

You are trying to equate the two. Apples and turds.

something does smell, that is certain

 

[Bodhisattva]

something does smell, that is certain

Yep, and it's the way the government wastes trillions of dollars of our money in exchange for the expenses of inflation, tens of trillions of debt, distorted markets, and unintended consequences.

 

[crimsonaudio]

I work for a company that let go of 7% of our workforce last year and the only effect was our stock price jumped a hair. Didn't really notice the missing people that much. I spent my first year at this company watching YouTube and arguing on tidefans. I also had 11 different managers that year. Seriously. Got paid 6 figures to watch YouTube and get lols here. Show up for a con call once or twice a week, sleep in and leave early no one noticed or cared. I know several dozen people that are doing this now on this company and dozens more at other companies.

I have a warehouse 3 miles from me with millions worth of IT Hardware that was bought in 2023 by a publicly traded company that is simply gathering dust waiting to be used. There was just as much software that is doing nothing because the hardware it was intended to run on is sitting in a warehouse.

Hysterical that you think this doesn't happen in the private sector.

Sure, my view is IT predominantly but I've sold to Fed, nearly every state in the Union, Education both higher and lower and all manor of private from fortune 50 to mom and pop. The only place that really focuses on wasteful spending is where the owner is still the decision maker or among the decision makers. Everywhere else is someone else's money

If it's not my money wasted I. Do. Not. Care.

How can you not see that your comparison is completely flawed?

 

[AWRTR]

I've sold to national homebuilders

I've also worked in non-IT procurement for a global multinational, first job out of college. Saw tons of waste there too. Tons. Waste is a problem everywhere, not just in IT and not just with the Government. You don't want to believe it that's fine, I've seen it with my own eyes

Have the expressed differences in the two not broken through? I’m sure you’re right that private companies waste money. I’ve seen it too, but that’s their money. If they waste it or allow it to be wasted that’s on them. We are talking about my money. I write checks to these morons quarterly and I’m mad everytime because I know there’s waste but I also know I have no idea of the true extent of it. When it’s the citizens money they should and could be held accountable but they never are.

 

[Bamaro]

 

[RollTide_HTTR]

FWIW, I think some government waste is probably a necessary evil.

That said plenty of it is quite bad. I know a guy who works for a lobbying firm that lobbies against government waste specifically with military contracts. It's pretty wild how much money is blown there.

 

[JDCrimson]

I think it would be more lucrative to work for the lobbying firm advocating FOR government waste...

FWIW, I think some government waste is probably a necessary evil.

That said plenty of it is quite bad. I know a guy who works for a lobbying firm that lobbies against government waste specifically with military contracts. It's pretty wild how much money is blown there.

 

[Go Bama]

If it's not my money wasted I. Do. Not. Care.

How can you not see that your comparison is completely flawed?

It’s not your money once you’ve sent it to Uncle Sam. I understand why you would think it may be. In the private sector if you buy something you don’t like, you may have some recourse. We have almost no recourse with the IRS.

I’m dealing with them now and it’s totally frustrating. I paid my quarterly payroll taxes on time and paid them electronically. A few months later, I received a check from the IRS for the exact same amount. I deposited the check assuming soon I would get a letter from the IRS asking for the money back. As expected, I got the letter and they wanted a paltry penalty. I wrote a letter of objection and included with my new check, including the penalty. Thought it was done until a couple of weeks ago when I received another check from the IRS, again for the exact same amount.

Of course, payroll taxes consist mostly of taxes I withhold from my staff’s weekly checks. The office has to match SS and Medicare so the majority is my staff’s money. But they never even see the money. So is it theirs? They have no say on how the money is spent, so in reality, how is it their money.

Also, I never look at the money the office matches as anything other than the cost of doing business. If an employee is not worth their payroll plus what the business pays in the match, the business is losing money on that employee. IOW, the match is also paid by the employee, they just don’t recognize it.

So I understand why you think tax money you have paid you care about how it is spent, but care none for how I spend money for my business. Truth is, you have very little control of either making this an exercise in semantics. Waste is waste no matter where it happens.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

I think you missed my point. When a "girl" is an infant up to the time when they learn to bath themselves, they obviously need help, and yes, that might have to come from a single father. Nothing wrong with that from my perspective. The objective should be to train the girl to do those things for themselves and hopefully, once they reach a level of maturity where they can do so, Dad would no longer be an active participant. In my mind, after a girl is capable of bathing herself, if dad participates, even by being in the shower with her, that is inappropriate and possibly illegal.

And probably never happened. It was in her diary, which was stolen, at a period when she was addicted and she has said that the diary contains many distortions and has been manipulated...

 

[TIDE-HSV]

If we can't do better than the depths this has descended to, we won't have a Kamala discussion thread, not that that is what this is, anyway. Anyone is welcome to start another Kamala discussion thread...