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Topic:
Austerity is stupidity..... [Locked] |
Sin_of_Onin  Posts: 1,307
Registered: 2005-6-29 08:21:12
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Austerity is stupidity..... |
Bowlartz posted:
I am pretty sure that Austerity also includes things like reforming your social services so you are not, as is the case in Greece, paying 10s of thousands of dead people retirement benefits. The massive fraud and waste caused by operating such large programs through a government bureaucracy can be staggering and most certainly can help countries swimming in debt if resolved even if only to a "decent" level.
For instance, Medicare fraud, just the fraud amounts to close to 70 billion dollars a year. That is enough to put every uninsured American in top notch private health care programs and still have plenty left over.
If the US government simply cut the rate of growth in most of its spending programs and departments to 2-3% in most cases this would save 100s of billions of dollars.
Austerity is as much about simply stopping abuse/fraud/mismanagement as it is killing programs that have proven to useless and simply terrible giveaways. This includes corporate welfare.
Paying more in fraud prevention is not austerity. It is actually a budget add with the hope of a net budget cut.
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Sin_of_Onin Posts: 1,307
Registered: 2005-6-29 08:21:12
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Austerity is stupidity..... |
Ptilk posted:
Not sure what your problem is, but I already said using the word reasonable made no sense and was stupid. Go on with your bad self though.
The current mania for austerity in governmental budgets is based upon ignorance and/or stupidity and not based upon any factual evidence of it's success in decreasing governmental budget deficits.
My problem is the entire premise of your argument. You are making factual claims while not even pretending to provide facts. You are also unable to even engage in a theoretical conversation.
There is certainly a conversation worth having regarding budget cuts but you don't seem like you want to have one. Instead you resort to circular reasoning and nonsense.
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"Okay... I'm with you fellas" --Delmar
F is for Fake-believe
"We apologise for the inconvenience" --God
"What Jesus fails to appreciate is that it's the meek who are the problem"--Reg
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Bowlartz  Title: Offical VN Tin Foil Hat Supplier
Posts: 221
Registered: 2006-1-4 19:59:15
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Austerity is stupidity..... |
Sin_of_Onin posted:
Paying more in fraud prevention is not austerity. It is actually a budget add with the hope of a net budget cut.
I am pretty sure you could just cut 40 billion from the Medicare budget and tell them to find the funds to improve their fraud/waste management to cover the costs. There is no real incentive for them to get overly tough right now, no one is getting fired. Cutting their budget, IE some of their jobs, at the very least is motivation to be better with the money they are getting.
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Sin_of_Onin Posts: 1,307
Registered: 2005-6-29 08:21:12
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Austerity is stupidity..... |
Bowlartz posted:
Sin_of_Onin posted:
Paying more in fraud prevention is not austerity. It is actually a budget add with the hope of a net budget cut.
I am pretty sure you could just cut 40 billion from the Medicare budget and tell them to find the funds to improve their fraud/waste management to cover the costs. There is no real incentive for them to get overly tough right now, no one is getting fired. Cutting their budget, IE some of their jobs, at the very least is motivation to be better with the money they are getting.
That is not how it works. They are on the hook for paying out for services whether it is budget or not. The capacity to actually hire people to do fraud prevention would have to be established in the budget.
It is possible the CBO will say they can budget less for services but there is no doubt that an add has to be approved.
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"Okay... I'm with you fellas" --Delmar
F is for Fake-believe
"We apologise for the inconvenience" --God
"What Jesus fails to appreciate is that it's the meek who are the problem"--Reg
Run, Forrest! Run!
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theredkay1  Posts: 611
Registered: 2008-5-16 10:37:09
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Austerity is stupidity..... |
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Ummm...yeah....adding additional fraud prevention measures is definately not part of the Austerity movement.
Cutting govt spending at a time of slow inflation and falling interest rates just doesnt accomplish anything and right now its counterproductive. There is no market mechanism that improves because the gov't slashes spending.
In a different time and place, 'Austerity' might free up scarce labor or commodities that can be sucked up by a healthy market, it would allow lower interest rates from the Fed without fear of inflation. But we arent in this time and place right now.
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Ptilk Title: Creepy old pirate
Posts: 2,359
Registered: 2002-2-13 14:52:58
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Austerity is stupidity..... |
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No. I am asking people who support austerity if they have any reason for doing so other than, "It sounds good" or "this guy said it would work". I've stated that there isn't any evidence that austerity in a national budget has worked in the past to decrease a national deficit. I certainly can't find any. Not even by the people who proclaim loudest and most "expertly" that it does. Should be an easy enough thing to disprove my assertion. Or to discuss it in greater depth if you feel like it.
I admitted my wording was stupid in one post, and not content to take that and go on, you started spewing insults. Dont remember you being that type of ass , so I was just wondering what your problem was. I never placed you in the ranks of that type. No biggie.
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Austerity is stupidity..... |
When my cc debt gets a little high, the first thing I do is cut my spending.
How can you not think that would help?
Are you twlling me I'm supposed to continue spending my money on toys and bars nights while running to my employer asking for more money to pay my debts?
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Jesus? No, but there is indeed a god shaped hole in the heart of man, why is yours so empty? -- snarf igraine
the original monotheism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phallus |
Scarne Title: Capo di Scientifico
Posts: 1,087
Registered: 2001-7-23 15:24:34
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Austerity is stupidity..... |
Individuals are not national governments and do not behave the same way. 
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E Pluribus Unum
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Ptilk Title: Creepy old pirate
Posts: 2,359
Registered: 2002-2-13 14:52:58
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Austerity is stupidity..... |
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Not quite like that for any but the most ardent austerity proponents.
More like you are paying for health insurance, your kids college education, your parents nursing home bill, house payments, car payments, food, electricity, a karate class, a hand gun class, and bubba's gun of the month club, and a bunch of other things that aren't as beneficial to what you need and/or want...but in total add up to about 15% of all the other stuff.
Now your choices are to cut out all the spending you can, but even if you cut all the "other stuff" you still aren't bringing in enough money to cover your bills.
Your choices now are to cut more stuff, even stuff you believe is important (like eating) or look at the fact that you could bring in more cash instead of cutting stuff but understand that some claim that by bringing in more cash you are increasing the prices of everything your already buy.
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Austerity is stupidity..... |
I dont care how you look at it.
If you can't afford your debts tjen you have over extendrd and neef to cut all but the most important.
We can start with politicians salaries.
They should never make more than the average in the district they represent.
If I can't have universal healthcare, neither can they. And its long past time they start ip their own 401k instead of making me pay for it.
TSA is another good cut.
War/military spending is more good cuts.
Then figure out what's left and where to go from there. If taxes still need to be raised after the fat is trimmed then we discuss it.
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Jesus? No, but there is indeed a god shaped hole in the heart of man, why is yours so empty? -- snarf igraine
the original monotheism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phallus |
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