Always the other guys fault

[W2L]

Its always the other sides fault in politics. Ever notice that? Its subjective reasoning is it not? Why follow it?

 

[thecolorsblend]

Their job is to pretend like they know answers they can’t possibly know. Blaming the other guy is the only way to keep their jobs.

 

[W2L]

Their job is to pretend like they know answers they can’t possibly know. Blaming the other guy is the only way to keep their jobs.

And if we parrot their rhetoric we are being subjective. Why do we do it?

 

[HTacianas]

Its always the other sides fault in politics. Ever notice that? Its subjective reasoning is it not? Why follow it?

I gave up on the "my guy good, you're guy bad" meme a long time ago. I was a Republican before W. Bush was elected. My "single issue" is the amount of money the Federal government spends. It is unsustainable and is the greatest threat to our country than all other threats combined. The only person ever to address it was Newt Gingrich when he was House Speaker while Clinton was in office. When Bush was elected the Republicans then outspent the Democrats. When Obama was elected the Democrats then outspent the Republicans.

There is only one reason I voted for Donald Trump and that was his mention of selling off Federal assets to retire the national debt. It doesn't look like that is going to happen.

The United States will collapse under the weight of its own debt within twenty years. And I won't be able to blame "your guy" and you won't be able to blame "my guy". They are all equally guilty.

 

[W2L]

The United States will collapse under the weight of its own debt within twenty years. And I won't be able to blame "your guy" and you won't be able to blame "my guy". They are all equally guilty.

It wont matter if we are not being objective in our reasoning because we have already lost.

 

[dgiharris]

I gave up on the "my guy good, you're guy bad" meme a long time ago. I was a Republican before W. Bush was elected. My "single issue" is the amount of money the Federal government spends. It is unsustainable and is the greatest threat to our country than all other threats combined.

I think you are wrong, but not by much...

The greatest threat isn't the amount of money the government spends, it is the inherent inefficiencies of government structure and spending... That is, the way our system works, is set up, is executed, etc is so inefficient and it is a compounding type error (it feeds on itself, gets bigger, feeds on itself, gets bigger...)...

We will collapse and I feel it will be within the next 50 years, but 20 isn't out of the realm of possibilities either...

I was a program manager for the government, fresh out of Acquisition certification. My first project was $1.2M R&D tech development.

I watched my spending like a hawk, i refused to let the contractors take advantage of me and as a result, I saved my program $300k. I was so proud. Come 3rd quarter we have our program reviews and I declare to my boss that I'm going to come in $300k under budget. His face dropped and he said "Are you serious?" Mistaking his response for admiration I reply with a big triumphant smile, "yep". He shakes his head, puts his head in his hands, and sighs a long long four letter expletive. He calls the secretary and has her announce over the PA system 'There will be an emergency meeting with all Program Managers in the COnference room in 30 minutes, stop whatever you are doing and get to the conference room...

30 minutes later, he reveals to all the other program managers what I've done. They all shake their heads and look at me like I'm an idiot. Now, in acquisition school, they told us time and time again we have to spend EXACTLY what is in our budget or else we won't get the money next year... but I just didn't believe it nor could I overcome my upbringing about not wasting money.

So, over the next hour we had to figure out creative yet legal ways to spend the $300k for my program in the next 2 months.

It is my sincere belief that if we can change the structure of acquisitions, budgeting, program management, etc for the government and figure out a way to INCENTIVIZE efficiency and saving money, that we can effectively reduce total wasteful spending by as much as 30%.

Because our system is so inefficient the government taxes more and more and we spend more and more...

imagine trying to fill your tire with air while it has a leak all the while adding more and more load to your vehicle. As you pump more and more air and increase the weight more air rushes out of the leak...

we have a similar scenario happening with the nation's budget, deficit, debt, etc...

Ultimately it is this inefficiency that is going to do us in because the effects of the inefficiency are not linear. The inefficiencies cost us more money as a whole than the actual percentage. That is, 30% inefficiency can cost us up to half our effective money when you add everything up

 

[thecolorsblend]

And if we parrot their rhetoric we are being subjective. Why do we do it?

American politics? We’re becoming more tribal all the time. It doesn’t help that America is also experiencing a pretty significant ideological realignment. Both parties support certain policies which they won’t support anymore ten years from now.

This is a strange time but I think it will make more sense in hindsight.

 

[W2L]

American politics? We’re becoming more tribal all the time. It doesn’t help that America is also experiencing a pretty significant ideological realignment. Both parties support certain policies which they won’t support anymore ten years from now.

This is a strange time but I think it will make more sense in hindsight.

Its still subjective, still always the other guys fault, now, then, and in the future i assume.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

I can still remember when I decided to get out of debt. I spent a little less, and voila, soon I was out of debt. It worked so well that I continued to save and invest. I now have enough money to choke a horse.

We are awash in both debt and money, but in order to reduce debt we have to reduce our population. But because that isn't going to happen (we're going the other way)...we're doomed to economic collapse.

 

[W2L]

I can still remember when I decided to get out of debt. I spent a little less, and voila, soon I was out of debt. It worked so well that I continued to save and invest. I now have enough money to choke a horse.

We are awash in both debt and money, but in order to reduce debt we have to reduce our population. But because that isn't going to happen (we're going the other way)...we're doomed to economic collapse.

The kingdom cannot be shaken.

 

[W2L]

Truth is love, but do we see democrats and republicans serving each other in love? Even our enemies are to be loved.

 

[Justasurvivor]

Its always the other sides fault in politics. Ever notice that? Its subjective reasoning is it not? Why follow it?

because it wouldn't be politics if it wasn't

 

[Halbhh]

I gave up on the "my guy good, you're guy bad" meme a long time ago. I was a Republican before W. Bush was elected. My "single issue" is the amount of money the Federal government spends. It is unsustainable and is the greatest threat to our country than all other threats combined. The only person ever to address it was Newt Gingrich when he was House Speaker while Clinton was in office. When Bush was elected the Republicans then outspent the Democrats. When Obama was elected the Democrats then outspent the Republicans.

There is only one reason I voted for Donald Trump and that was his mention of selling off Federal assets to retire the national debt. It doesn't look like that is going to happen.

The United States will collapse under the weight of its own debt within twenty years. And I won't be able to blame "your guy" and you won't be able to blame "my guy". They are all equally guilty.

In the classic way of thinking a nation cannot run a deficit of a significant % of its GDP (example of a lot: 10% (which we are far below at the moment) ) -- without eventually paying for it, such as through high inflation. (Actually what matters there is whether the deficit spending % of GDP is larger than the rate of growth of GDP, mathematically, in this simple picture....)

In FY 2018 the federal deficit was 3.9 percent of GDP. This year, FY 2019, the federal government in its latest budget has estimated that the deficit will be 4.7 percent of GDP.
US Federal Deficit as Percent of GDP - plus charts and analysis

But that expected result of higher inflation doesn't take in account some huge factors that are overwhelming in their force. For today in the U.S.

What are the huge factors the simple picture fails to account for?

Here are 2:

A) That that world as a whole has a very large and lasting "savings glut" -- meaning that there is much more wealth people are looking for a safe place to invest than has been normal in history. Therefore a large and stable nation like the U.S. is able to easily find buyers for it's bonds, and can continue to sell debt bonds easily. More easily than normal, and sell that debt at lower interest rates than is normal historically.

B) Because of the huge effects of technology/automation, productivity and thus GDP is continuing to advance significantly, and therefore the above trend looks likely to continue: having good GDP growth, which allows longer term deficits to be covered over by an increasing ability to pay on the bonds, due to the economy being larger. -- Bond buyers know the U.S. is growing over time, and can therefore keep on paying its bonds.

 

[thecolorsblend]

Its still subjective, still always the other guys fault, now, then, and in the future i assume.

Americans operate in a nominally democratic process. The very problem you mention is one reason why I’m skeptical about democracy.