President Elon Musk
He probably deserves his own thread at this point, discuss accordingly
Why should it matter who's doing the "auditing", it's the end result and findings that matters. What about what was found? That becomes a non issue now because "Elon shouldn't be doing an audit"?
Any gov't agency should expect an audit and even welcome it if they have nothing to hide. By protesting to stop it (like those idiot representatives were trying to do the other day), they obviously know they're about to be exposed at best and taken into federal custody at worst.
I think it was one of th
It matters 100% who's doing the "auditing" and you know this, which is why I brought up Soros. If you don't think so, let's call for Soros to take over Elon's job and see how that goes.
Also, if they were serious, the military would be included because they have such a large budget and the greatest possible savings. But they're not, they're looking at ways to denigrate the left. If they were serious they would be 100% open about what they're doing. If they were serious they wouldn't be parading their left wing "crimes and corruption," they would put a report together and present it to congress. If they were serious the report would include issues on both sides. But they're not. They're very serious but not in the ways you're being led to believe.
I hope they crack down on the feds paying all that money to send **** up into space, where it can't even be used here in America. America first! Space last! Not sure if that's taken from the defense budget though.
I hope they crack down on the feds paying all that money to send **** up into space, where it can't even be used here in America. America first! Space last! Not sure if that's taken from the defense budget though.
Satellites help americans on the ground. Military in particular, but not exclusively. And allies. Just what starlink did for Ukraine was worth more than what Musk got from the DoD
Okay, if the government/country is so bad here, why haven't you expat to "literally anywhere else" and be happy?
other than the pure idiocy behind this post for dozens of logical fallacies
you look really dumb for saying this specific thing to me of all people
i feel like my experience makes me uniquely qualified to talk about how much the usa sucks ass and it breaks my heart being here because everything is in shambles
Not really, but also kind of.
This because it was - as authoritarian regimes usually are - hopelessly and utterly corrupt. A natural consequence of no transparency, a largely failed state, too much power on too few hands, and no checks and balances,
Of course, many armchair historians would object to Nazi Germany being "a largely failed state" (atrocities aside), but this unfortunate historical deception is largely down to how good their government was when it came to lying about being successful and effective.
So, local kleptocrats and thugs who brought in the reichsmark and passed enough of it on likely had decent autonomy.
I wonder what happened ~1980 that sent things off the rails?
Maybe it was smashing all of that fdr era leftside economics etc that built the middle class and tacking hard to the right along with a bunch of 'new' democrats to round out the crew of fiscal righties. nah
other than the pure idiocy behind this post for dozens of logical fallacies
you look really dumb for saying this specific thing to me of all people
Cool. An ad hominem. How original.
i feel like my experience makes me uniquely qualified to talk about how much the usa sucks ass and it breaks my heart being here because everything is in shambles
Well, at the expense of deflating your ego, I'm not aware of your backstory. Just because you posted it in the forums, doesn't mean everyone read it. And if I read it and forgot about it, then I'm sorry that it wasn't interesting enough for me to care to remember it.
But yeah, if you and Rob are online rakeback grinders or something, then yeah, you'll probably not be able to expat anywhere.
I wonder what happened ~1980 that sent things off the rails?
Maybe it was smashing all of that fdr era leftside economics etc that built the middle class and tacking hard to the right along with a bunch of 'new' democrats to round out the crew of fiscal righties. nah
what happened is this
So of all countries in the world, which country do you think the US should be modeled after?
literally anything other than what we got, most of europe is doing it way better than we are, same for asia
singapore would probably be the ideal but unsure if that's practical on a grand scale
WHOA! That is quite the choice!
Singapore is infamous for having insanely draconian drug laws.
For example, if you are convicted of trafficking controlled drugs containing more than 250 grammes of “ice”, you will face a mandatory death penalty.
Under section 8A of the MDA, a Singapore citizen or permanent resident who consumes drugs abroad will be dealt with as if that offence had been committed within Singapore and punished accordingly.
As of 1 June 2023, the maximum penalties for the possession of the following controlled drugs, above certain weight thresholds, have increased to 30 years’ imprisonment and 15 strokes of the cane:
Morphine;
Diamorphine;
Opium;
Cocaine;
Cannabis;
Cannabis resin;
Cannabis mixture; and
Methamphetamine.
For example, the penalties for possessing less than 330g of cannabis is 10 years’ imprisonment, or a fine of $20,000 or both
Your "probably would be the ideal" government treats drug addicts like murderers.
I know that you're well-travelled and you may be fully aware of all of this... but if so, that would make your post here even worse.
Anyway, the correct answer to "which country do you think the US should be modeled after?" (assuming we should model ourselves after an existing country at all) is one of the Scandinavian countries. Pick one. They ain't perfect, but they have the highest quality-of-life metrics around, and a robust safety net for ALL its people (even the scary immigrants!)
Anyway, the correct answer to "which country do you think the US should be modeled after?" (assuming we should model ourselves after an existing country at all) is one of the Scandinavian countries. Pick one. They ain't perfect, but they have the highest quality-of-life metrics around, and a robust safety net for ALL its people (even the scary immigrants!)
Finland has a little more than half the foreign born as a % of the population the USA have (8.5% vs 15%) , and no birghtright citizenship.
To naturalize you need high proficiency (B1 level) in Finnish (good luck with that).
It is 97-98% white: a lot of the immigration is EU immigration, and other than that most immigration is russian and ukrainian recently.
You sure democrats or leftists in general in the USA would agree with that approach in exchange for more welfare state?
Finland also has 20% coporate tax rate (vs 21 in the USA and only with the Trump cuts (it was 35% previously) ).
Yes Finland has insanely higher income tax rates for the middle class (you pay 30% marginal over 31k/year, 41% marginal over 88k/year).
Very high income people pay approximately as much as they do in california / NYS (44% marginal), just sooner (above 150k). But if you make 10M/year in San Francisco or in Helsinki, rates are very similar.
Capital gain rates are higher (30%) , and inheritance tax kicks in immediatly (minimal tax free area) , is progressive, but caps at 19% over 1M. So if you inherit 1 billion in Finland taxes are exceptionally lower than in the USA.
//
So, are you sure you want to model the USA on a country that is infinitely stricter with regards to citizenship rights than the USA, and which can only provide the welfare it does because it basically has no domestic poor demographics?
Finnish immigration -- too strict for my liking, but if the immigrants that get through benefit from the same anti-poverty measures as the rest of the populace, I'm cool.
Taxes -- I don't see increased taxes on the middle class as a problem as long as said taxes are used to fund quality social services, which appears to generally be the case in Scandinavia
"and which can only provide the welfare it does because it basically has no domestic poor demographics"
This is some real "begging the question" here 😀
Anyway, I took a glance, and Finland's military budget is 6 billion Euros, while the US is listed at 820 billion (not including all the graft and waste that isn't listed on a budget). Playing World Police is expensive. Looks like Finland not being an imperialist rogue hegemon like the US freed up some 800+ billy for social services and infrastructure.
I certainly don't view these nations as some kind of utopia (in my utopia, all currently existing countries are dissolved); the question was to pick an existing nation after which to model the US.
Finnish immigration -- too strict for my liking, but if the immigrants that get through benefit from the same anti-poverty measures as the rest of the populace, I'm cool.
Taxes -- I don't see increased taxes on the middle class as a problem as long as said taxes are used to fund quality social services, which appears to generally be the case in Scandinavia
This is some real "begging the question" here 😀
Anyway, I took a glance, and Finland's military budget is 6 billion Euros, while the US is lis
Finland is one of the few countries in NATO that actually spends more than 2% of gdp in defense and has done so structurally, because it remembers what happens with the Russians wake up wrong.
And ofc Finland does get help from american defense expenses (as does everyone in the West). If the USA stopped "policing the world" Finland would need to spend even more on defense.
btw 6 billion euros for a population which is 1/65 of the USA approx, would be 420 billion euros for the USA. And Gdp per capita is lower in finland.
You wrote 6 vs 820 as to show some purported huge difference. In GDP terms it's 2.4% vs 3.4% (again, with finland piggybacking on the USA like everyone else. if finland has to develop it's own atom bomb like all countries would need to if the USA stops policing the world, that goes up a lot)
Finland has a little more than half the foreign born as a % of the population the USA have (8.5% vs 15%) , and no birghtright citizenship.
To naturalize you need high proficiency (B1 level) in Finnish (good luck with that).
It is 97-98% white: a lot of the immigration is EU immigration, and other than that most immigration is russian and ukrainian recently.
You sure democrats or leftists in general in the USA would agree with that approach in exchange for more welfare state?
Finland also has 20% co
Never miss a beat do you?
WHOA! That is quite the choice!
Singapore is infamous for having insanely draconian drug laws.
Your "probably would be the ideal" government treats drug addicts like murderers.
I know that you're well-travelled and you may be fully aware of all of this... but if so, that would make your post here even worse.
Anyway, the correct answer to "which country do you think the US should be modeled after?" (assuming w
i think this is a cheap strawman sourcing one single aspect and ignoring the bigger picture
even as a pro legalization person i'd rather have this
over this
The bottom pic isn't legalization so I think we're dealing with a few more bales of straw here 😀
The bottom pic isn't legalization so I think we're dealing with a few more bales of straw here 😀
it was intentional hyperbole to prove a point about his strawman
and no buddy, that image was not about legalization at all, it was about general government being incompetent - it's unforgiveable that we have a government that is ok with places like kensington street
