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The money is allocated to things that have very little benefit to the average American. Both parties are guilty of perpetuating a corrupt system that funnels the majority of funds to corporate and defense interests. There's absolutely no reason our defense budget needs to be so many times larger than every other country in the world.
In addition to cutting the defense budget, I would also propose reforming and simplifying the tax code to ensure that all citizens and corporations pay a progressive tax based on gross income and profits, removing the income and property tax exemptions for religious and non-profits.
Unfortunately both political parties are guilty of the same excessive spending for interests that do not align with the public interest. We need to repeal Citizens United, eliminate corporate campaign contributions, eliminate the electoral college and cap individual campaign contributions. The nominated candidate should be chosen based on a popular vote, not by how much money they have raised from PACs and corporations. This should help get us back on track as an actual democracy and not an oligarchy ruled by 2 political parties who are more alike than different.
So true. We really do live in a two party duopoly that restricts voices and choices for the people. Strengthening labor unions is also paramount. If we look around the world, no country has created a strong middle class and a proper public safety net without strong labor unions. Labor unions democratize society like nothing else does. And the elites know it. Thats why its targeted so heavily.
Socialism means workers owning the means of production. It has nothing to do with taxes nor government.
What you are referring to is a public safety net. And even though some right wingers always whine about the deficits when it comes to investing in the American people, but never about tax giveaways to billionaires, military and wars, a public safety net can be financed.
We're the richest country in the world. Of course we can afford to provide a decent standard of living to our elderly, the disabled, the sick and the poor. Its all about priorities.
The problem with socialism -- or, to be more precise, collectivism -- is that its allure is always in the expectation of better things, not in its actual delivery on its promises. What you ignore is that we already have a massive safety net in place. Yet, as you readily acknowledge, those are not doing the job.
Public housing was promised to provide safe, dignified housing of quality to the poorest among us. Who in their right mind would live in public housing?
Medicare and Medicaid was promised to ensure reasonable healthcare costs. When those programs began, healthcare was 5% of the GDP. Now it's around 20%.
Federally-insured student loans were supposed to make higher education affordable. Strangely, once they began, the cost of tuition has increased at a rate 4x that of inflation ever since.
Our education expenditures per child have doubled after inflation since 1985. Yet does any sane individual actually believe that the quality of education has improved?
And the list goes on.
That's because people keep being gulled by the same basic variations on this song: Golly, let's get the government involved and that will solve this particular problem. Yet it never does.
Collectivism has been tried in multiple ways around the globe for more than a century, and has always resulted in the lessening of quality of life after some early successes. The Soviet Union managed to keep the Russian people fed, except for the 20,000,000 that Stalin starved, machine gunned or worked to death in a prison camp. Mao, by some estimates, killed up to 100,000,000 Chinese. Even its more benign strains have been failures. Peronists and their successors managed to destroy the incredibly rich Argentine economy. Venezuela was the wealthiest country in Latin America until Chavez and Maduro got hold of it. China only became more prosperous once it abandoned socialism in all but name. Sweden was wealthy before adopting the touted Scandinavian model, and then abandoned it due to the serious problems it was beginning to have.
So enchanted as you are by the notion that the workers could own the means of production, why do you seek to overlook collectivism's dismal economic record?
Proposing pure fantasy that can't be implemented. Budget deficits are already due to skyrocket over the next with annual deficits well over a trillion annually and that assumes no recession.
Yet the Democrats are proposing socialist spending plans and a spending spree.
Elizabeth Warren wants to spend 500 billion dollars to house families, cancel student debt, complimentary or tiny-copay child care for the majority of the nearly 4 million children born annually for a decade or more and then free college for many years after they graduate high school so they can run-up debt for lavish dorms and celebrity-emulating lifestyles while tax payers pay all their tuition.
Bernie Sanders of course wants "Medicare for All" which will be very, very costly as they will have drastically increase reimbursement rates as commercial health plans heavily subsidize Medicare.
Socialism means workers owning the means of production. It has nothing to do with taxes nor government.
What you are referring to is a public safety net. And even though some right wingers always whine about the deficits when it comes to investing in the American people, but never about tax giveaways to billionaires, military and wars, a public safety net can be financed.
We're the richest country in the world. Of course we can afford to provide a decent standard of living to our elderly, the disabled, the sick and the poor. Its all about priorities.
I agree completely and both sides have been using the word socialist in the wrong way. Socialism refers to collective ownership of the means of production, financial services and other economic activity.
However, one has to question why Bernie and others continue to use the word socialist to refer to themselves, if they do not wish to go beyond enhancing the public safety net? Wouldn't it be smarter for Bernie to clarify that he is not a socialist because he doesn't advocate for the government takeover of businesses or want to emulate North Korea or Cuba?
How can Democrats implement their socialist fantasies when budget deficit averages $1.2 trillion a year next decade?
It's a great question. Are you acknowledging that Trump created those deficits (Dwarfing Obama's deficits, which were coming down, now they are at historic levels again) to mindfully undermine the welfare of the American People, or are you more of the opinion that he didn't do it on purpose, and he's an object failure?
That's a tough one to decide, isn't it. There is no debate among sane people that Trump has screwed us with his lust for debt, the only thing to figure out is whether he did it with intent, or via his incompetence.
Wonder which one his supporters believe?
(I love that this thread is such a fail. After so many conservatives have come out and said that CD is one of the most conservative leaning forums available, and how refreshing they find it, it must be CRUSHING to see their conservative haven all unite about what a massive failure Trump is, and how his "king of debt" mentality is hurting America.)
At his point, the debt and deficit is everyone's fault - being that we keep sending the same people into office.
Trump is an outsider, and I think he would reign in the deficits if he could, but it's up to 535 people to do that.
I don't buy it.
Firstly, we only each elect a small portion. Secondly, Simpson-Bowles and the Grand Bargain and not extending all the tax cuts WERE efforts to get things in order (they didn't pass in most cases, but that's not my fault!)....
I can state this clearly....
1. I didn't cheer for the GWB tax cuts....I thought they were ignorant coming out of debt and deficit.
2. The Trump tax cuts are even worse!
3. I was against starting all of the wars
4. I had zero to do with the Great Recession (not a mortgage broker, realtor, etc.)......
5. I am big time for universal health care and addressing that 3 Trillion major problem.
You are right in this sense. A very large percentage of the people here cannot state those 4 things...and, therefore, they ARE partially responsible.
As far as Trump reigning in the deficits - I really have to ask.....DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT HE PURPOSELY BLEW UP THE YEARLY BUDGET FOR THE NEXT DECADE FOR HIS "TAX REFORM?". That's fantastic that you think he WOULD fix things...whereas he almost singlehanded wrecked them.
He calls HIMSELF the "King of Debt" and you don't believe him?
That is really fantastic. I wonder how you can square that circle when we'd be at 1/2 the projected deficit with any decent fiscal prudence (going forward)....
The only way "Trump would" would be if he could give free TRILLIONS away to rich folks and then push a button to balance the budget. But he wouldn't do what is needed to do it....and that is be responsible.
Proposing pure fantasy that can't be implemented. Budget deficits are already due to skyrocket over the next with annual deficits well over a trillion annually and that assumes no recession.
Yet the Democrats are proposing socialist spending plans and a spending spree.
Elizabeth Warren wants to spend 500 billion dollars to house families, cancel student debt, complimentary or tiny-copay child care for the majority of the nearly 4 million children born annually for a decade or more and then free college for many years after they graduate high school so they can run-up debt for lavish dorms and celebrity-emulating lifestyles while tax payers pay all their tuition.
It is not difficult for the US government to fund $500 billion dollars.
The Trump tax cuts cost $2.2 trillion dollars, with 47% of the tax cuts going to the richest 1% of Americans. And that $2.2 trillion dollars would fund Elizabeth Warrens programs for decades.
And did Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and Jeff Bezos need a tax cut? Or was Trumps $2.2 trillion dollar tax cut a unneeded handout to the wealthy?
Providing free childcare would give families peace of mind and security, and give those families $1,000's of extra dollars to spend each year stimulating the economy.
And providing free public college tuition for low income Americans would create a better educated America.
Can you explain how Trumps $1 trillion dollar tax cut for the wealthy helps America more than Warrens plans?
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Bernie Sanders of course wants "Medicare for All" which will be very, very costly as they will have drastically increase reimbursement rates as commercial health plans heavily subsidize Medicare.
Okay. First, I'm not a Democrat, nor am I a liberal. Nor do I agree with any of these programs you detail. But your post kind of epitomizes the sheer mindlessness that has broken our politics today.
Why? Because neither the Republicans nor the Democrats give a damn about any fiscal responsibility. Let me repeat that for you: They don't care about balancing the budget or even being close to doing so. Neither political party stands for coherent ideology. Instead, they are little more than cartels of power hiding behind their respective fig leafs to satisfy their base. Yet, we have two camps of parrots just repeating whatever talking points have been handed to them by either the DNC or the GOP.
If you actually believe for a moment that the GOP cares, then give me a second while I look for your lobotomy scars. And if you are a Democrat, trust me. The DNC would throw just about any cherished ideal into the river if it meant picking up 200,000 votes in Ohio.
I mean, let's have a litmus test here. How do you feel about the Prescription Act that George W. Bush pushed through? Or what about that completely unjustified invasion of Iraq, undertaken under completely bogus intelligence. I mean, literally on the first day of his administration, Bush was hitting up the intelligence agencies for a good pretext to depose Saddam Hussein. In 2007, the Pentagon released a report that showed that the WMD claims were completely without foundation. Yet, we'll be paying the few trillion that war cost us from now until Doomsday.
And, today, under Donald Trump, we're racking up debt faster than Obama did. This despite having a Republican majority in both Houses before the mid-terms. I sure didn't see any serious budget cutting measures, did you?
Now this is the part where Republicans kind of grumble without any good rebuttal. Why? Because their partisans are so gulled by the GOP's talking points. Just like their liberal counterparts, they've subcontracted their thinking out to other people.
In fact, I'll go one further. I think that it borders on immoral to be a straight-ticket voter for either the Republicans or the Democrats. To do so is to not just irresponsible, but it actually endorses the very forces and mechanisms that have gotten us into this pickle in the first place.
Instead, the only responsible, moral, and ethical thing to do as a voter is to hold both parties in deep suspicious and make them work for your vote. Not with glorified bribery, but with real-world solutions design to give us better and more responsive government in the first place.
Republicans raise our deficits and debt with supply side/trickle down economics, these being tax cuts for large corporations and the wealthy. And democrats do not practice supply side economics.
And now you see the logical fallacy of the socially liberal/fiscally conservative Big Lie.
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