Opinion If you were president of the USA, what would you do?

[GhostZ06]

Not Murican, but here is my list.

1. Permanently close 2/3 of oversea military bases.

2. Audit the Pentagon on a yearly basis and cut defense budget by 5% for each failed audit.

3. Expand Medicare for all and unify all public hospitals in the country under the program.

4. Enact law that bans big pharma from charging Muricans more for medication than they are selling overseas.

5. Decriminalize drugs and legalize marijuana. Procession of drugs will be dealt with by fines rather than prison.

6. End embargo on Cuba and return Guantanamo Bay.

7. Build the southern border wall and make treaty with Cuba to process all illegal aliens there.

8. Ban corporations from donating to political campaign and limit individual contribution to $1000.

9. Ban corporations from owning residential properties.

10. Cut funding for humanities and social sciences for colleges, and increase funding for STEM studies.

i forgot about those

 

[The XL]

End money in politics. Life in prison for anyone caught taking any kind of bribe

 

[Jack V Savage]

When you cannot "account for" trillions in assets on your balance sheet, yes, that means that something is missing. Double entry accounting is not inherently sophisticated, unless of course you are trying to hide something. I don't care if it's $5 trillion in cash or assets such as equipment - the point is my and your money was taken in order to secure those assets and the fact that every single year they "just don't know what happened" and it's "unaccounted for" is a weak excuse. Politicians and government should be at least halfway responsible with the taxpayer's money. Imagine if we had those trillions, or were more accurately able to re-direct the funding of such to National Healthcare and combating poverty. I just think it would be of much greater public benefit.

Honestly, you are egregiously misunderstanding the finding. I know you're too entrenched to consider the possibility that what I'm saying is true, though. Criticism of the accounting is valid. Believing that there are actually trillions of dollars that are missing and could be used for other purposes is not in the zip code of reality.

 

[ColemanwastheGOAT]

"In its most recent audit, the Pentagon was able to account for just half of its $3.8 trillion in assets (including equipment, facilities, etc). That means $1.9 trillion is unaccounted for — more than the entire budget Congress agreed to for the current fiscal year." First result in Google.

We've had this discussion before which devolved in to you calling me a conspiracy kook which I've no interest in repeating.

The fact that at first you believe the missing money is not true, and then go on to state that no single business is as complex as the DoD, kind of looks like you are simply making excuses.

You certainly know how to use Google. What I'm saying is not a conspiracy theory, nor is it a widely kept secret. It's just that most people refuse to believe and that's why they are allowed to get away with it. I'm not buying the excuse that the DoD is too complex to follow generally accepted accounting principles. They should have to follow the same rules as everyone else, especially when they are using the public's funds. I'm happy to leave it at we agree to disagree, as I have no interest in arguing with you about this again.

As to immigration, no disagreement there. I thought you would have more of an issue with my characterizing a corporate lobby as legal bribery, as I did in that post. Personally, I just have a real problem with the wealthy being able to hedge their bets and receive favorable policy/regulation or legislation through this system. Attaching a profit motive to any and everything is not always beneficial to the greater good and there are many things of social value that should not be filtered through a capitalistic model. Just my opinion.

That guy is a fucking joke

 

[MLarson]

Build that wall
And
Drill baby drill

 

[Source]

Sign an EO eliminating 47 USC 230.

 

[Cuauhtemoc]

In terms of foreign policy the focus should be on countering China. That would entail mostly foiling their ambitions in poorer countries, mostly in Africa.
China has a very large demographic advantage over the USA coupled with a larger territory too. That advantage will only increase if China is able to muster African resources and manpower.
American advantages in technology, while important, will not hold forever. You can develop technology but you cannot conjure a cobalt mine, or 1 billion people.
The middle east is not as important as it was in the 20th century and adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan were distractions.
Israel is useless nowadays. It posed a threat to Soviet interests in the ME but it does nothing against China or even Russia.
Ukraine is important to foil Russia but Russia is already beat, it's of marginal importance in the grand scheme of things.
Taiwan, South Korea and Japan are the US most important non-NATO allies by far. Vietnam and other SEA countries should also be courted.
And all of central Africa.

 

[Jack V Savage]

Sign an EO eliminating 47 USC 230.

What's the effect you're hoping for?

 

[ringking1982]

We have a lot of fucked up voting things
The 1st past the post system really helps the 'center' party which the fed Libs used to be.
Chinese dominate important swing ridings and the ChiCom fixed 14 ridings in the Libs favour last election.
Population base of Ontario just dominates, so smaller provinces that lean right e.g. AB, MAN, SASK just dont have the seats to create a govt.

It realy does come down to a dozen swing ridings, most in the greater toronto area.

And dont forget our fucked up Quebec party that gets like 8% of the vote but more seats than the NDP with 20%+ of the vote.

What is 1st past the post system?

Why isn't there an investigation on to the chinese rigging of 14 ridings that helped keep your clown PM in power?

Toronto is apparently incredibly woke, no chance of having proper economic bills put in place. My friends works in Ontario, woke religion totally took over, they have a little prayer to the Indians before each meeting that they stole land from, they can't say merry charismas, nonsensical pronouns in email signatures, Canada is fucked. Liberals here are just as mentally retarded.

 

[SammyPops]

What is 1st past the post system?

Why isn't there an investigation on to the chinese rigging of 14 ridings that helped keep your clown PM in power?

Toronto is apparently incredibly woke, no chance of having proper economic bills put in place. My friends works in Ontario, woke religion totally took over, they have a little prayer to the Indians before each meeting that they stole land from, they can't say merry charismas, nonsensical pronouns in email signatures, Canada is fucked. Liberals here are just as mentally retarded.

sorry first past the post. It means that the winning of that electoral riding gets that seat in parliment, and the other parties have zero representation. For example, the NDP may win 30% of the popular vote in Alberta but end up with zero seats in parliment b/c the PC get all the seats.

The ChiCom interferance scandal is too long for me to recount here, but Trudy knw about it since 2019 and kept it secret. It was not until Canada's security agencies started large scale leaks that we even knew about it. There has been one failed attempt at an inquiry, and Trudy is stopping a public inquiry. One day when he is gone, we will have a massive shitstorm up here. Its so well known that one targeted member of parliment testifiedboth to US congress and behind closed doors to some kind of US subcommittee. The joke here is that Americans know more about what Trudy is hiding than Canadians do.

Toronto suffers from a lot fo issues. Remember though that Toronto voted conservative in its last 2 provincial elections.

Our issues are more that our conservative party insists on tripping over its own feet.

 

[Jballer]

My main policy would be we should go forwards not backwards, upwards not forwards. As a young boy I dreamed about being a baseball, but we should always be twirling towards freedom.

 

[helltoupee]

Honestly, you are egregiously misunderstanding the finding. I know you're too entrenched to consider the possibility that what I'm saying is true, though. Criticism of the accounting is valid. Believing that there are actually trillions of dollars that are missing and could be used for other purposes is not in the zip code of reality.

I have a better understanding of accounting than most as my mother has owned her own tax and accounting practice for years and I not only worked for her when I was younger, but had to understand the ins and outs of accounting principles as it applied to my own personal business that I owned. Before my life took a drastic turn in a different direction, I originally was studying to be a CPA so I could take over her practice upon her retirement.

I'm not entrenched in anything that would stop me from considering alternative explanations, however those provided by the Pentagon are ridiculous at best. Things like the Pentagon refusing to provide important financial data so audits cannot be passed is wrong, imo. And I'm not blaming any one thing/person for these problems, but surely the undisclosed spending or sale of military assets with industries that have a bad habit of socializing costs while privatizing assets should be a concern to any tax paying citizen.

When trillions of dollars in supposed assets are missing on your balance sheet, are you suggesting there is no cost involved? Money actually approved to originally buy/obtain those assets went where? The fact remains that by failing to pass an audit, or account for assets that were supposedly purchased with taxpayer funds, while obviously doesn't necessarily imply that the assets/money is just sitting somewhere available to be used for social programs, but it means a very significant amount of assets were appropriated to the DoD that has been declared missing for over a decade.

Since you seem to think I've got it all wrong by demanding accountability and transparency, I'd be happy to consider whatever explanation you are apparently holding back from explaining. Feel free to include why general accounting principles cannot inherently account for an institution of scale like the DoD.

 

[Whippy McGee]

It's kind of interesting to read the thread. The Right leaners are heavy into responsible fiscal policy and the Left Leaners are into banning things and imprisoning people.



Is normal.

 

[fedorthegoat777]

AFUERA!



Then nuke Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Qingdao, Shenzhen and Hangzhou with 70 megatons each.

Yes, If I was President I would hire this guy to be in charge of Federal spending, great idea.

 

[fedorthegoat777]

1. Slash half of the government, major cuts to both parties and programs that both sides like. Evenly cut favorites from both sides right down the middle.
2. Create a law that says if the budget can't be balanced, congress people get fired.
3. High speed trains and public transportation.
4. No more lobbying.
5. Secure America, build a wall and have a small military at any borders that have problems.
6. America will become a defensive, not offensive power house. Stop the involvement in wars.
7. Hire a dozen people from Sherdog as paid advisors.

 

[fedorthegoat777]

I have a better understanding of accounting than most as my mother has owned her own tax and accounting practice for years and I not only worked for her when I was younger, but had to understand the ins and outs of accounting principles as it applied to my own personal business that I owned. Before my life took a drastic turn in a different direction, I originally was studying to be a CPA so I could take over her practice upon her retirement.

I'm not entrenched in anything that would stop me from considering alternative explanations, however those provided by the Pentagon are ridiculous at best. Things like the Pentagon refusing to provide important financial data so audits cannot be passed is wrong, imo. And I'm not blaming any one thing/person for these problems, but surely the undisclosed spending or sale of military assets with industries that have a bad habit of socializing costs while privatizing assets should be a concern to any tax paying citizen.

When trillions of dollars in supposed assets are missing on your balance sheet, are you suggesting there is no cost involved? Money actually approved to originally buy/obtain those assets went where? The fact remains that by failing to pass an audit, or account for assets that were supposedly purchased with taxpayer funds, while obviously doesn't necessarily imply that the assets/money is just sitting somewhere available to be used for social programs, but it means a very significant amount of assets were appropriated to the DoD that has been declared missing for over a decade.

Since you seem to think I've got it all wrong by demanding accountability and transparency, I'd be happy to consider whatever explanation you are apparently holding back from explaining. Feel free to include why general accounting principles cannot inherently account for an institution of scale like the DoD.

So what did you end up doing in life? Think you will ever take over that accounting firm?

I hate accounting, but should learn it better to help with my small business, now I use a bookkeeper and CPA accountant.

 

[Source]

What's the effect you're hoping for?

Chaos

 

[Jack V Savage]

I have a better understanding of accounting than most as my mother has owned her own tax and accounting practice for years and I not only worked for her when I was younger, but had to understand the ins and outs of accounting principles as it applied to my own personal business that I owned. Before my life took a drastic turn in a different direction, I originally was studying to be a CPA so I could take over her practice upon her retirement.

I'm not entrenched in anything that would stop me from considering alternative explanations, however those provided by the Pentagon are ridiculous at best. Things like the Pentagon refusing to provide important financial data so audits cannot be passed is wrong, imo. And I'm not blaming any one thing/person for these problems, but surely the undisclosed spending or sale of military assets with industries that have a bad habit of socializing costs while privatizing assets should be a concern to any tax paying citizen.

When trillions of dollars in supposed assets are missing on your balance sheet, are you suggesting there is no cost involved? Money actually approved to originally buy/obtain those assets went where? The fact remains that by failing to pass an audit, or account for assets that were supposedly purchased with taxpayer funds, while obviously doesn't necessarily imply that the assets/money is just sitting somewhere available to be used for social programs, but it means a very significant amount of assets were appropriated to the DoD that has been declared missing for over a decade.

Since you seem to think I've got it all wrong by demanding accountability and transparency, I'd be happy to consider whatever explanation you are apparently holding back from explaining. Feel free to include why general accounting principles cannot inherently account for an institution of scale like the DoD.

You're not understanding my position or representing accurately. Like, you really think I'm objecting to accountability and transparency? Surely that can't make sense to you, can it?

I'm saying there aren't trillions of extra dollars out there to use for something else. The total budget represents what goes in. No more than that is spent. Fixing accounting at the DOD won't free up more funds.

 

[Jack V Savage]

It's kind of interesting to read the thread. The Right leaners are heavy into responsible fiscal policy and the Left Leaners are into banning things and imprisoning people.


Is normal.

What posts are you referring to?

 

[Ron Mexico]

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