The ugly truth about America's spending

[kwillia]

Oh the humanity, Trump is killing Big Bird.

The world is in danger of climate destruction, Trump is ending payments to the Green Climate Fund that pays off foreign governments to support radical environmental proposals under the false flag of global warming.

The world is on the brink of chaos as the United States contribution to the United Nations is cut to the same level as every other Security Council member pays.

Here is the ugly truth.

We are twenty trillion dollars in debt. We have hit the debt ceiling and the federal government is taking what is called “extraordinary measures” to keep us solvent until Congress either balances the budget at current levels or raises the ceiling again.

Of the debt, more than a quarter of that money is owed to ourselves through IOUs issued to the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds, the Federal Reserve and other intergovernmental entities, about 32 percent is owed to governments around the world, including approximately $1.1 Trillion to the government of Japan and $1 Trillion to China, and the remainder is owed to private banks and individual investors in everything from savings bonds to mutual fund holdings of government Treasury bills.

And the situation is not getting better.

The Congressional Budget Office reports that overall federal government spending has increased by approximately $1.13 Trillion over the past decade, while tax revenues have increased by $699 Billion with the result being a more than doubling of our national debt during the previous ten years.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017...ldren-ugly-truth-about-americas-spending.html

 

[GURPS]

I read an article earlier in the week, Killing the CPB would have little impact in PBS or NPR

 

[mAlice]

I have a cousin who attends University of Edinburgh, and she wrote "I wonder what kind of job I'll be able get now if I have to return to America since the president just cut funding for the arts/humanities, museums and libraries?"

I've never asked what she was planning on doing, but I just posted that question on her FB page. I'm curious to see what it is, and if she'll actually be impacted.

 

[GURPS]

I'm curious to see what it is, and if she'll actually be impacted.

plenty of private funding of this ...

 

[kwillia]

I have a cousin who attends University of Edinburgh, and she wrote "I wonder what kind of job I'll be able get now if I have to return to America since the president just cut funding for the arts/humanities, museums and libraries?"

I've never asked what she was planning on doing, but I just posted that question on her FB page. I'm curious to see what it is, and if she'll actually be impacted.

I wonder why the federal government is paying her to attend art school overseas. My first instinct is it should have never happened to begin with.

 

[SamSpade]

I've *ALWAYS* wondered why - after listening to and reading the myriad of complaints from Hollywood and press - it's somehow the government's job to bankroll the arts and culture.

Just how is it possible that we even HAVE art and culture for all these centuries - in so many parts of this world - WITHOUT government paying for all of it?

 

[kwillia]

I've *ALWAYS* wondered why - after listening to and reading the myriad of complaints from Hollywood and press - it's somehow the government's job to bankroll the arts and culture.

Just how is it possible that we even HAVE art and culture for all these centuries - in so many parts of this world - WITHOUT government paying for all of it?

This was going to be my rebuttal should anyone chime in to defend the need for the federal government to subsidize the arts.

 

[mAlice]

I wonder why the federal government is paying her to attend art school overseas. My first instinct is it should have never happened to begin with.

I don't know if they're paying for her education, or if she's just concerned about where she's going to work/if there will be jobs available. That's how I understood it. Maybe I'm wrong. I'll see what she says.

 

[kwillia]

I don't know if they're paying for her education, or if she's just concerned about where she's going to work/if there will be jobs available. That's how I understood it. Maybe I'm wrong. I'll see what she says.

Gotcha. On that note, I'd have to question why the federal government is expected to subsidize the arts at all... it is a wealthy private industry.

 

[Hijinx]

I have a strange view of college myself.

Going to college should be to help you in your future career.

Lawyers, Doctors, Engineers, even School Teachers.
If you are going to college and not majoring in something that will turn into a future for you WTF are you going for.

Beer busts and easy sex is no reason to go to college.


Now I wait for the people who run in here and say those 3 examples are not the only thing taught in college and I already know that, but to repeat myself
If you are going to college and not majoring in something that will lead to a future career why are you there.

 

[tommyjo]

Correcting the misleading garbage....

Oh the humanity, Trump is killing Big Bird.

The world is in danger of climate destruction, Trump is ending payments to the Green Climate Fund that pays off foreign governments to support radical environmental proposals under the false flag of global warming.

The world is on the brink of chaos as the United States contribution to the United Nations is cut to the same level as every other Security Council member pays.

Here is the ugly truth.

We are twenty trillion dollars in debt. We have hit the debt ceiling and the federal government is taking what is called “extraordinary measures” to keep us solvent until Congress either balances the budget at current levels or raises the ceiling again. The debt ceiling is a really dumb concept.

Of the debt, more than a quarter of that money is owed to ourselves through IOUs issued to the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds, the Federal Reserve and other intergovernmental entities, about 32 percent is owed to governments around the world, including approximately $1.1 Trillion to the government of Japan and $1 Trillion to China, and the remainder is owed to private banks and individual investors in everything from savings bonds to mutual fund holdings of government Treasury bills. Social Security is required to invest the Trust Fund assets. The safest investment in the entire world is US govt bonds. If the money wasn't invested, it would continually lose value due to inflation. Only political operatives whose audience consists of uneducated and ignorant people will portray investing the Trust fund as a bad thing.

And the situation is not getting better.

The Congressional Budget Office reports that overall federal government spending has increased by approximately $1.13 Trillion over the past decade, while tax revenues have increased by $699 Billion with the result being a more than doubling of our national debt during the previous ten years. Do you understand WHY we have an annual deficit? Not if you are posting stuff from Fox you don't. We had an annual deficit problem for two reasons. The massive spending increases combined with massive tax cuts under Mr. Bush (43). And the aging population which is busting Medicare/Medicaid. That's it. It's not a difficult concept to understand unless you are a blind follower of a political party. Mr. Trump's proposals will do nothing to make any of this better. In fact his proposals will make the situation worse.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017...ldren-ugly-truth-about-americas-spending.html

 

[SamSpade]

Correcting the misleading garbage....

Yeah - cause we didn't have a problem with deficits before Bush.

 

[libertytyranny]

I keep seeing all of the freak out articles and posts. As far as I can see theres not a whole lot I take major issue with. If people feel so STRONGLY that we need to fund the arts, then they are free to give money straight to PBS. Isnt it funded by viewers like you? I saw MANY people freak out about meals on wheels funding being cut...but that makes up like a whopping 3% of their total funding. The world is NOT going to end because some programs have grant and gov funding cut. If I had less money taken in taxes from myself and my husband every year, I would sure like to invest some of that money in causes I care about...


I do wish he/congress would address some of the other causes of government bloat, like congressional mandates that force us into buying expensive #### from blind, one legged indians or apply cybersecurity policies to systems from the 60s, or the outdated rules about social security (spouse benefits etc) as a start.

As for fixing medicaid and medicare... it may be totally unpopular but that needs to be done by raising rembursement rates for preventative care (so more docs will take it) and even more unpopular, by limiting the care for the dying. Medicare is charged millions every year to provide completely futile (and often unwanted) care to people. The average for one day of futile care is a little over 4k. It adds up to millions every year. Anyone who has ever been in a hospital KNOWS this in a major contributer to high, high healthcare costs. Additionally, those with insurance are overbilled to make up for the underpayments by those with medicaid and medicare and those who refuse to pay. Also, its illegal to limit the ER visits of medicaid patients...and the expansion significantly increased them. From my own experience, many medicaid and self pay patients use ERs as urgent cares or because they can, and they are not allowed to be capped or turned away. We would have people come in to the er for tick bites, to have medication refilled, to get a dose of a medication they wanted (narcotics, usually), for colds, for mild fevers etc. All of those visits clog up waiting rooms, soak up care that could be given to those in an emergency and cost a LOT of money to the taxpayers. Until we address all those issues, we will keep spending ourselves into oblivion.

 

[Hijinx]

I keep seeing all of the freak out articles and posts. As far as I can see theres not a whole lot I take major issue with. If people feel so STRONGLY that we need to fund the arts, then they are free to give money straight to PBS. Isnt it funded by viewers like you? I saw MANY people freak out about meals on wheels funding being cut...but that makes up like a whopping 3% of their total funding. The world is NOT going to end because some programs have grant and gov funding cut. If I had less money taken in taxes from myself and my husband every year, I would sure like to invest some of that money in causes I care about...


I do wish he/congress would address some of the other causes of government bloat, like congressional mandates that force us into buying expensive #### from blind, one legged indians or apply cybersecurity policies to systems from the 60s, or the outdated rules about social security (spouse benefits etc) as a start.

As for fixing medicaid and medicare... it may be totally unpopular but that needs to be done by raising rembursement rates for preventative care (so more docs will take it) and even more unpopular, by limiting the care for the dying. Medicare is charged millions every year to provide completely futile (and often unwanted) care to people. The average for one day of futile care is a little over 4k. It adds up to millions every year. Anyone who has ever been in a hospital KNOWS this in a major contributer to high, high healthcare costs. Additionally, those with insurance are overbilled to make up for the underpayments by those with medicaid and medicare and those who refuse to pay. Also, its illegal to limit the ER visits of medicaid patients...and the expansion significantly increased them. From my own experience, many medicaid and self pay patients use ERs as urgent cares or because they can, and they are not allowed to be capped or turned away. We would have people come in to the er for tick bites, to have medication refilled, to get a dose of a medication they wanted (narcotics, usually), for colds, for mild fevers etc. All of those visits clog up waiting rooms, soak up care that could be given to those in an emergency and cost a LOT of money to the taxpayers. Until we address all those issues, we will keep spending ourselves into oblivion.

I don't understand why Doctors suggest Chemo for people they know don't have a snowballs chance in hell of surviving.
Make them as comfortable as they can, but why make them sick as a dog for what time they have left.

 

[mAlice]

I have a strange view of college myself.

Going to college should be to help you in your future career.

Lawyers, Doctors, Engineers, even School Teachers.
If you are going to college and not majoring in something that will turn into a future for you WTF are you going for.

Beer busts and easy sex is no reason to go to college.


Now I wait for the people who run in here and say those 3 examples are not the only thing taught in college and I already know that, but to repeat myself
If you are going to college and not majoring in something that will lead to a future career why are you there.

Because they think they need that piece of paper. Sadly, what they don't realize, is if that piece of paper doesn't have particular words on it, it's no better than your HS diploma. I'm surprised that they haven't realized that those fluffy, easy subjects they majored in do not, in fact, bring in the big bucks. For the big bucks, you have to have the piece of paper that basically says, you can build a rocket ship, cut someone open, keep them out of jail, or something along those lines. Knowing what Shakespeare liked to eat for breakfast is not going to get you a good paying job. Well, not typically.

 

[Merlin99]

This was going to be my rebuttal should anyone chime in to defend the need for the federal government to subsidize the arts.

Because if you look at what is passed off as art these days no one would buy it. Nobody but an overly pretentious ass is going to think a statue of Jesus swimming in a jar of piss is art.

 

[Christy]

As for fixing medicaid and medicare... it may be totally unpopular limiting the care for the dying.

I agree, to an extent. Leave it up to the patient, not the gov't. Most elderly and terminally ill patients would gladly ditch a lot of the treatments that are forced upon them by the hospitals who are trying to get as much money out of the system as they can. Anytime my 93 year old grandmother (may she rest in peace) was ever admitted to the hospital, they would run every ridiculous test on her they could think of. She did not want any of this, but it was a money maker. One example off the top of my head was when they sent her for an X-ray on her hand to determine if she had arthritis. The woman obviously had arthritis. She had arthritis for at least 50 years. She wasn't in the hospital for arthritis or hand pain. Anyway, I digress. The point I am making is that hospitals and physicians need to stop trying to suck every dime they can from medicare and Medicaid.

It is unfortunate that we're in such a mess with medical. It could all resolve itself (mostly) if everyone would just be honest. From patients, to doctors, to insurers, to pharmaceutical companies. And yes, I realize this will never happen, but it's truly about the only we'd ever be able to have it all. We all suffer from those who are unethical.

 

[Bird Dog]

If you are going to college and not majoring in something that will turn into a future for you WTF are you going for.

Beer busts and easy sex is no reason to go to college.

Beer busts and easy sex....

 

[Larry Gude]

I agree, to an extent. Leave it up to the patient, not the gov't. Most elderly and terminally ill patients would gladly ditch a lot of the treatments that are forced upon them by the hospitals who are trying to get as much money out of the system as they can. Anytime my 93 year old grandmother (may she rest in peace) was ever admitted to the hospital, they would run every ridiculous test on her they could think of. She did not want any of this, but it was a money maker. One example off the top of my head was when they sent her for an X-ray on her hand to determine if she had arthritis. The woman obviously had arthritis. She had arthritis for at least 50 years. She wasn't in the hospital for arthritis or hand pain. Anyway, I digress. The point I am making is that hospitals and physicians need to stop trying to suck every dime they can from medicare and Medicaid.

It is unfortunate that we're in such a mess with medical. It could all resolve itself (mostly) if everyone would just be honest. From patients, to doctors, to insurers, to pharmaceutical companies. And yes, I realize this will never happen, but it's truly about the only we'd ever be able to have it all. We all suffer from those who are unethical.

We are an aging population, have amazing abilities that bet better all the time, believe in spending whatever it takes for whatever ails you, docs have the strongest union on the planet, insurers have monopolies and we, the people expect someone else to pay for it all be it the boss or each other via gummint spending and, yes, this includes military folks.

We got what we allow. :shrug:

 

[Larry Gude]

I don't understand why Doctors suggest Chemo for people they know don't have a snowballs chance in hell of surviving.
Make them as comfortable as they can, but why make them sick as a dog for what time they have left.

Because it advances the science and medicine for the next guy or gal. :shrug: