Trade Wars

[dlaloum]

Tell me that Congress is efficient and show how that would be possible.

The Legislature doesn't "do" anything.

If you want to talk about any of the services that government delivers then we can discuss effciency.

In terms of governance, the most efficient structure is a dictatorship... However it is demonstrably prone to major flaws / errors - just because it is efficient does not guarantee an optimal outcome.

 

[lovinthehd]

But, ideally, big business doesn't operate on taxpayer revenue and come up with "ways to help the people who need it most" by enacting new and better legislation/raising taxes.

What's that got to do with the needs of government? Government isn't a for-profit business. In government at least the wealth/benefits are spread around rather than concentrated to particular players.

 

[dlaloum]

What's that got to do with the needs of government? Government isn't a for-profit business. In government at least the wealth/benefits are spread around rather than concentrated to particular players.

In theory that is.

In practice this is massively distorted by lobby groups, who ensure that the funding support from government gets allocated to their preferred recipiences - there is massive corporate support from government...

There SHOULD be equally massive regulation to ensure a level playing field between the taxpayer and the deep pocket groups... but there aint'.

 

[lovinthehd]

In theory that is.

In practice this is massively distorted by lobby groups, who ensure that the funding support from government gets allocated to their preferred recipiences - there is massive corporate support from government...

There SHOULD be equally massive regulation to ensure a level playing field between the taxpayer and the deep pocket groups... but there aint'.

There is that aspect of corporate welfare.

 

[highfigh]

What's that got to do with the needs of government? Government isn't a for-profit business. In government at least the wealth/benefits are spread around rather than concentrated to particular players.

No, government certainly isn't a for-profit business but they still need to look for better value/performance for the incredible amounts they spend. What other country has such a deficit?

 

[mtrycrafts]

No, government certainly isn't a for-profit business but they still need to look for better value/performance for the incredible amounts they spend. What other country has such a deficit?

What other country is comparable to the US? World leader or try to be, military might and on it goes?
I guess the US can be a follower, then we may not need to acquire Greenland, Canada, military might, care for others, save the planet.

 

[Mikado463]

What's that got to do with the needs of government? Government isn't a for-profit business.

LMAO, how do you think so many of our Senators, Congressmen and women accumulate their wealth ? The 'profits' go well beyond their respective salaries !!!

 

[GO-NAD!]

No, government certainly isn't a for-profit business but they still need to look for better value/performance for the incredible amounts they spend. What other country has such a deficit?

Within the G7, the US government isn't a very big spender, per capita, which would make one think that the Feds should have an easier time balancing their budget. But nope. If there's one thing Americans hate more than government spending, it's taxes.

 

[Trell]

No, government certainly isn't a for-profit business but they still need to look for better value/performance for the incredible amounts they spend. What other country has such a deficit?

Musk and Trump promised to cut 2 trillion "fraud, abuse and waste" dollars from the federal budget. How is that working out?

 

[Trell]

Within the G7, the US government isn't a very big spender, per capita, which would make one think that the Feds should have an easier time balancing their budget. But nope. If there's one thing Americans hate more than government spending, it's taxes.

They hate taxes until services they need are taken away.

And his "concern" for deficits is totally bogus as he never talks about the unfunded tax cuts the Republicans and Trump are giving to the 0.1%.

You and me, among others, have repeatedly refutes his many statements with statistics from credible sources, but he persists with the same statements ad nauseam.

 

[lovinthehd]

LMAO, how do you think so many of our Senators, Congressmen and women accumulate their wealth ? The 'profits' go well beyond their respective salaries !!!

I assume from insider trading and donations from wealthy donors/corporations. It would be nice to take money out of politics, but that's like asking congress to cut their benefits while cutting everyone else's.

 

[lovinthehd]

No, government certainly isn't a for-profit business but they still need to look for better value/performance for the incredible amounts they spend. What other country has such a deficit?

Seems they get pretty decent value. Drumphy is making it poorer value so far. Have you compared our gdp to debt ratio with others particularly? I haven't....but we have a military budget like no other....

 

[highfigh]

Within the G7, the US government isn't a very big spender, per capita, which would make one think that the Feds should have an easier time balancing their budget. But nope. If there's one thing Americans hate more than government spending, it's taxes.

I have posted several times about the number Mitt Romney mentioned during the Presidential campaign WRT American adults who pay no income tax- he said it was 47%, but it's actually higher now. Think about that- look at the number of people who make very little income, didn't bother to finish school and will never be able to support themselves. Per capita spending in a country where people have poured in from all over the planet for decades making low wages (not all, but very many), people who can't be bothered to be educated and continue to pound out kids even though they have no way to financially support them doesn't show the whole picture and it just increases that wage gap people love to bitch about.

A lot of people hate all taxes, but it's not the majority. Many people actually understand that taxes are needed to pay for infrastructure and other things people take for granted.

Just for comparison, the link shows Canada's total government spending for 2024-25 at $535 Billion vs the cost of ~3million Federal government employees @ $101K average pay totalling ~$303 Billion. Just for Federal government employees, nothing else.

Budget 2024, by the numbers: Here’s how spending is being divvied up - National | Globalnews.ca

Here are some key numbers from the Liberal government's federal budget, which includes $535 billion in total government spending for the 2024-25 financial year.

globalnews.ca

 

[highfigh]

What other country is comparable to the US? World leader or try to be, military might and on it goes?
I guess the US can be a follower, then we may not need to acquire Greenland, Canada, military might, care for others, save the planet.

I would really like the US to solve its problems in education, health/nutrition and getting people to stop criminality. Those two would be a great help, IMO. People could be better, but it's not happening.

You think one country can save the planet? How, when some other countries don't give a rat's ass about it?

 

[highfigh]

Seems they get pretty decent value. Drumphy is making it poorer value so far. Have you compared our gdp to debt ratio with others particularly? I haven't....but we have a military budget like no other....

Enough about him- the problems existed long before he became POTUS.

Look at the payroll of US Federal employees in another post- ~$303B for ~3million employees. Without any other Federal spending, that comes to almost 57% of the budget for all of Canadian Federal spending.

 

[dolynick]

Enough about him- the problems existed long before he became POTUS.

Look at the payroll of US Federal employees in another post- ~$303B for ~3million employees. Without any other Federal spending, that comes to almost 57% of the budget for all of Canadian Federal spending.

That's a nice cherry-picked stat.

You leave out that you also have ~10x the population, so of course you have a larger federal workforce. You also left out that, despite that, the cost of all federal Canadian federal employee wages for 2023 was 67.4B (roughly ~300k workers, so about 1/10th as expected). That number may be problematic for Canada in its own right, but by comparison, it doesn't paint the US federal workforce as horribly outlandish as you seem to imply it does.

 

[Trell]

That's a nice cherry-picked stat.

You leave out that you also have ~10x the population, so of course you have a larger federal workforce. You also left out that, despite that, the cost of all federal Canadian federal employee wages for 2023 was 67.4B (roughly ~300k workers, so about 1/10th as expected). That number may be problematic for Canada in its own right, but by comparison, it doesn't paint the US federal workforce as horribly outlandish as you seem to imply it does.

This is the same old of him repeating the same derp despite repeatedly being debunked with very credible sources, so he is wilfully ignorant and when frustrated lashes out at people nationalities.

 

[lovinthehd]

Enough about him- the problems existed long before he became POTUS.

Look at the payroll of US Federal employees in another post- ~$303B for ~3million employees. Without any other Federal spending, that comes to almost 57% of the budget for all of Canadian Federal spending.

Why would you compare that to the complete Canadian budget?

 

[mtrycrafts]

I would really like the US to solve its problems in education, health/nutrition and getting people to stop criminality. Those two would be a great help, IMO. People could be better, but it's not happening.

You think one country can save the planet? How, when some other countries don't give a rat's ass about it?

Well, we are not alone in that endeavor but the biggest. And, if the planet cannot be saved, the future is what many Syfy movies present, bleak indeed.

 

[GO-NAD!]

I have posted several times about the number Mitt Romney mentioned during the Presidential campaign WRT American adults who pay no income tax- he said it was 47%, but it's actually higher now. Think about that- look at the number of people who make very little income, didn't bother to finish school and will never be able to support themselves. Per capita spending in a country where people have poured in from all over the planet for decades making low wages (not all, but very many), people who can't be bothered to be educated and continue to pound out kids even though they have no way to financially support them doesn't show the whole picture and it just increases that wage gap people love to bitch about.

A lot of people hate all taxes, but it's not the majority. Many people actually understand that taxes are needed to pay for infrastructure and other things people take for granted.

Just for comparison, the link shows Canada's total government spending for 2024-25 at $535 Billion vs the cost of ~3million Federal government employees @ $101K average pay totalling ~$303 Billion. Just for Federal government employees, nothing else.

Budget 2024, by the numbers: Here’s how spending is being divvied up - National | Globalnews.ca

Here are some key numbers from the Liberal government's federal budget, which includes $535 billion in total government spending for the 2024-25 financial year.

globalnews.ca

None of that addresses the point I'm making, which is that the US government does not spend excessively on a per capita basis. It just makes a deliberate choice to not bring in nearly enough revenue to pay for its expenditures.

That a large proportion of the US population doesn't pay any income tax speaks more to income inequality than anything else.

And, suggesting that they're poor because there are too many immigrants who are stupid and too fecund, is a lazy argument.
And yes, I'm paraphrasing...just in case you come back with, "I didn't say that!".