The country is adding a Trillion dollars to the debt every 100 days of late. Even if you didn't go to Harvard Business School you should listen to Jerome Powell, Jamie Dimon and many others who have assured us that this kind of profligacy is "unsustainable". It won't be long before just the interest on the debt will overwhelm the entire budget and we will then do our best imitation of Weimar Germany in the early 1920's when 10,000 deutschmarks which could have bought you a small house in 1920 could not even buy you a loaf of bread 3 years later. Milton Friedman assured us that open borders and a Welfare State were "unsustainable" too but it appears that those in Washington haven't read his books.
Link: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/01/the-us-national-debt-is-rising-by-1-trillion-about-every-100-days.html
The big cities. are in shambles. rife with violence ..
The MAGA people can’t seem to grasp this: the only way this war ends is if both sides acknowledge a stalemate.
The only way the Russians will acknowledge a stalemate is if they realize the West won’t let Ukraine collapse.
Therefore, arming Ukraine is necessary for bringing this war to an end. If Putin thinks he can someday get into Kiev, he will keep on going and going.
Ukraine.
This is just an excuse for continuing to provide aids to Ukraine. They keep saying if you don't give Ukraine aids Russia will take over Kiev or even whole Ukraine. This is purely propaganda.
Russia's goal is clear, Ukraine must be neutral and an autonomous Donbas. That is: no NATO + implementation of Minsk agreement.
Russia now achieved its goal. Atually overachived a bit. Ukraine joining NATO is off table due to the military conflict and Donbas became independent at first and then became a part of Russia. At this point Russia is happy to stop and open talk to make what they achieved permanent.
Ukraine's goal is Russia must withdraw to the border pre 2/24/22. Ukraine hasn't achieved its goal. Of course Ukraine doesn't want any talk.
So, the choice is very clear. If you think Ukraine can achieve its goal, then just keep providing aids to help Ukraine until Ukraine achieves its goal. If you don't think Ukraine's goal is realistic and achievable, then you should know your aids is just a waste.
The problem is we have war mongers who knows Ukraine's goal is unachievable, but they still want to continue supporting this war. There are 2 groups of these war mongers. One group is the group who benefits from this war financially. A other group is they simply want to hurt Russia so badly. Neither group care about Ukraine.
They just want the Sudetenland right? And pathetic trolls like you spread that BS.
Their military sucks. The only way they win is we abandon the Ukes and Putin kills hundreds of thousands more of his savages.
Not sure if you heard, douche, but there was a major assault on Kiev that failed.
The war is already essentially lost for Russia, but they are going to keep fighting if Putin thinks he might win.
Russia has been keeping negotiation open. It's Ukraine that walked away from negotiation table. Every accusation you made is opposite to the facts.
BTW, among current Ukraine leaders, Russia would rather Zelensky as president than Zaluzhny who has ultra nationalist support and former president Poroshenko who is a staunch anti Russia.
Link: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/why-ukraine-refuses-to-negotiate-with-habitual-liar-vladimir-putin/
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You can do the math.
Since cuts will never happen, then we might as well keep our own money until the system collapses.
But, if you decide this is actually a serious issue (which I don't believe you have decided yet), let me know. When you are willing to cut spending for every single government program by 20% tomorrow, and a balanced budget amendment...then I'll vote for a tax increase to pay down the debt further. Until then, I see no reason for me to give up more of my money. I'm wiling to meet you in the middle. Are you willing to meet me there?
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And also why do we care about Ukraine? What is our interest in this conflict?
The stalemate would save lives.
Putin is not going to quit until he realizes he can’t win.
What is your substantive counter argument?
Thee war will end faster.
Without Western support, the Russians will keep grinding away, and the war will drag on for years. Many more will die.
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I'm guessing whatever negotiation happens at some point in the future will be similar, except many more deaths.
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Handled well to this point so far.
Anything to weaken Russia is good with me. Russia is the enemy, after all.
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You do know that Russia’s economy is not very big, yes?
They know this.
But the war will continue until Putin realizes he can’t drive into Kiev.
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the cojones to keep the Ukes in the game. Or if his Orange toady will come in and leave them to their fate and abandon NATO.
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And even if Russia is an enemy, Ukraine is not really a friend.
Academics say it's just a number and numbers never hurt anybody
Because default is an increasingly more likely scenario
Or has it always been Biden's deam to be a second FDR?
But if Putin wins and proceeds... we get into another Euro War to really end all wars?
Tough choices.
Depression...even Greenspan admitted as much...and as for our national debt, DJT and the GOP displayed economic insanity with their $1.9T tax break in 2017.
What's going to resolve this issue is increased taxes on the unbelievably wealthy segment of our country, along with targeted cuts in government spending...hopefully, the same Dems and Republicans who agreed on a bipartisan Immigration Bill will lead the way in those negotiations.
Of course he was right about this
Keynesian Economics that it worked during the Great Recession. If you'd care to go further on your own, I'd recommend looking into the "Paradox of Thrift"...as well as borrowing from your library, Tim Geithner's book, "Stress Test...Reflections on a Financial Crisis"...here's an excerpt from it, related to that paradox...(Page 263)
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"Mr. President-elect," she famously said, "this is your holy ___ moment."
If the main theme that day was the mess we were about to inherit, the main topic was the Recovery Act. We all felt the stimulus should be as big as possible and passed as soon as possible. Governments always face political pressure to tighten their belts during crises, because families and businesses are tightening theirs. But for countries that can afford to borrow, austerity in a crisis is a dangerously misguided approach. Keynes recognized this "paradox of thrift," the idea that saving by individuals, considered virtuous in normal times can cripple society's demand for goods and services during a downturn if everyone pulls back at once. One family's spending is another family's income; the less people spend, the less people earn, and the less people earn, the less they have to spend. That's when government needs to pump money into the economy to revive demand and restore confidence, even though politically, deficit spending can seem as profligate and counterintuitive in tough times as financial rescues.
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All that being said, the 'trick' is to know when to stop pumping...btw, let's not forget the effort those Keynesians made toward the title of his book..i.e. "Stress Testing"...in order to reduce the chance of a repeat shock...which IMO needs to continue (see "Silicon Valley Bank Collapse")
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effective 'Good Ones' (e.g. Nancy Pelosi), but we definitely have some that are just taking up space.
Link: https://www.npr.org/2023/09/14/1199434381/congress-old-politicians-age-term-limits