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Federal deficit increasing.

Discussion in 'Too Hot for Swamp Gas' started by l_boy, Jul 14, 2023.

  1. UFLawyer

    UFLawyer GC Hall of Fame

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    So you want me to tell Chuck Norris he is an ignorant, selfish, insensitive bullshitter? I think it best you tell him. I'll film it.
     
  2. cron78

    cron78 GC Hall of Fame

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    That is exactly what I did after persevering through the engineering college. By the time I graduated and because of working my way through school I had desirable skills and parlayed them into the ability to retire a little early. Well, that, and always living below my means. Sharing everyone’s resources wouldn’t have interested me since about my senior year when I saw light at the end of the tunnel and it wasn’t a train.
     
  3. surfn1080

    surfn1080 Premium Member

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    You’ll need to show me where progress means wealth gap shrinks.
    It seems to me different cultures have had different levels of wealth gap at different times throughout history.

    We may have a large wealth gap now but we also have far less people in poverty than any other time in history.

    Economic mobility is much greater now than ever before.
     
  4. OklahomaGator

    OklahomaGator Jedi Administrator Moderator VIP Member

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    I've said it before and I will say it again.

    Freeze spending at current levels until the budget gets balanced. (exceptions for war_
     
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  5. l_boy

    l_boy 5500

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    So how do you propose we freeze social security, Medicare and interest? We would have to cut those to freeze them given aging demographics and COLA’s. I’m not against some cuts to those programs but good luck with that politically.
     
  6. l_boy

    l_boy 5500

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    I’d say CEOs are kind of like college football coaches these days. There is a high demand for performance, and they reap most of the benefits for the performance, and when they don’t they have negotiated insane exit packages. CEOs are kind of like a union. They answer to boards, but they hire compensation consultants, who basically give them permission to keep paying more and more, then rinse and repeat.
     
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  7. citygator

    citygator VIP Member

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    No one thinks we shouldn’t spend less. No one agrees on how. You freezing SS benefits?
     
  8. citygator

    citygator VIP Member

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    Your deflection doesn’t address my point. Strong negotiation tactics equal higher pay. Shit. Even million dollar athletes and actors with skills irreplaceable are union to protect themselves from exploitation. If Tom Brady and Tom Cruise needs a union then Tom at your local grocery does.
     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2023
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  9. UFLawyer

    UFLawyer GC Hall of Fame

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    So you’re saying that 90% of American workers can’t negotiate a wage and should let a stranger do it for them? So your saying the 15% of American workers who are truly exceptional at their job should not be able to rise rapidly above their coworkers…but instead have their pay held back so as to be on par with the lazy workers…all because some stranger “negotiated” that for everyone?

    no thanks. I have more faith in my fellow American. I think hard work should be encouraged and rewarded. I reject a hive approach to employment. I support freedom.

    God Bless America.

    [​IMG]
     
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  10. UFLawyer

    UFLawyer GC Hall of Fame

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    SS wasn’t designed to be a “spending” category controlled by Congress. It got F’ed up when Congress stuck their corrupt hands into the SS vault and grabbed money to pay for pet projects. First step is to pass laws prohibiting dipping into the senior’s money (citizens placed that money in their for safekeeping) and force Congress to repay every penny, with interest.
     
  11. citygator

    citygator VIP Member

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    So you’re saying a group of people working together is weaker than a individual group working separately, and that it’s unAmerican? That makes no sense and you know it.

    I posted a link to facts about wages and unions. You bellow about your religious beliefs in individualism and post memes. My work here is done.
     
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  12. UFLawyer

    UFLawyer GC Hall of Fame

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    I don’t believe I’ve ever in my life posted anything religious. Second, you didn’t post a link to facts, you posted a link to 1/2 truths and opinions disguised as facts written by a union.

    here is the problem with the link you posted, and the system that you support. A union will come in and try to negotiate a 1 to 2 dollar an hour raise for a large group of people. From that point forward, you have to pay the union monthly dues for that minimal work. But that’s not the real issue. By having the union come in, and dictate terms and wages, those employees who are exceptional, are forced to carry the unacceptable employees. And by carry, I mean specifically to pay for them. Employers have a find out amount of money that they are going to earmarked for payroll. In a non-union workshop, the really good employees make a lot more money than they’re really shitty employees. In fact, the really shitty employees end up getting fired. New employees are brought in to replace the shitty employees….Hoping to find a really great employee. That is meritocracy at work.

    In your union workshops, the really shitty employees are protected. Employers have to jump through 1 million hoops under union contracts in order to fire them. The really great employees see this, and realize that all their extra effort trying to make themselves and the company better is for not, because they can never really succeed as the shity employee is holding them down. What then happens? Productivity of the really great employee goes down, because he or she looks at it as why would I work so hard and not get a benefit. That is human nature.

    this is why unions suck
     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2023
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  13. gatorpa

    gatorpa GC Hall of Fame

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    That is what they are “saying”…
     
  14. citygator

    citygator VIP Member

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    You have a meme grasp of unions. Compensation is higher is areas and industries with unions. Those are facts I linked and there is no disputing that.

    When labor groups started losing their power the working class lost their livelihood.

    Your talking points from Costco executives is not reality, it’s religious faith of passed down stories. You have anecdotally fake made up narratives vs the reality of worker compensation.

    BLS data
    Table 2. Median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by union affiliation and selected characteristics - 2022 A01 Results

    Article on it
    The union difference in wages – 18% higher pay if you belong to a union
     
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  15. UFLawyer

    UFLawyer GC Hall of Fame

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    I have inside knowledge of unions as I was forced to act as counsel for one in Chicago for 3 years by my firm when I first started practicing. I know exactly how they function and exactly how they recruit and exactly how they work. The problem with the data that you are throwing out is that it is actually consistent with my longer post above. Telling me that everyone has 18% higher pay, which I don’t even believe, does not address the real problem with unions. Unions protect the week and punish the strong. If that is your philosophy, then unions are for you. That is not my philosophy. I believe everyone should be judged on the merit of their own work. It is a simple as that. We can agree to disagree.
     
  16. l_boy

    l_boy 5500

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    Social security now and going forward spends more money than in takes in. You are correct there was an excess but in reality it has been spent. So what are you going to do to fix it?
     
  17. gatordavisl

    gatordavisl VIP Member

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    [​IMG]
     
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  18. UFLawyer

    UFLawyer GC Hall of Fame

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    1. Forbid Congress from touching the money from this date on.
    2. Take all money earmarked now and in future which is allocated to any country/crisis for foreign, military, humanity, etc. EVERYTHING. All of that money now goes to pay back Social security for what they stole, with interests. No money spent on any global issues until SS is paid back.

    problem solved. Give me another one.
     
  19. tarponbro

    tarponbro All American

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    They're saying this for public consumption. They're not going to risk their reputation as builders of some of the best mass produced cars and trucks in the world over giving bad information to public news sources. Toyota has been researching and developing solid state battery technology for at least a few years and I think they have already got things pretty much figured out if they've released this information to the public. They didn't really get into the lithium battery technology for cars and trucks and I believe this is the reason why.
     
  20. tarponbro

    tarponbro All American

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    I'm interested in what Tesla does with their battery technology in the next 2 or 3 years.
     
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