Author Topic: Laugh at Trump all you want  (Read 243259 times)

mrbig

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Re: Laugh at Trump all you want
« Reply #855 on: October 24, 2016, 03:40:48 PM »
+1 Yugi!
Let it come to you..
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PonoBill

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Re: Laugh at Trump all you want
« Reply #856 on: October 24, 2016, 06:12:23 PM »
Trump says he wants to add another 450 billion to the pot. WTF!!. How about subtracting 450.
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Admin

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Re: Laugh at Trump all you want
« Reply #857 on: October 24, 2016, 06:24:03 PM »
Ughhh.  Maddening.





« Last Edit: October 24, 2016, 06:26:52 PM by Admin »

Eagle

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Re: Laugh at Trump all you want
« Reply #858 on: October 24, 2016, 07:06:47 PM »
Yeah - from an outsider perspective - that is what the American voters should be focussing on.  Move some of that budget to re-build your highways and infrastructure.  Use some for prevention and deportation of illegals crossing your Southern border.  Use a big chunk to generate more business and jobs and lower taxes.  Use a bunch for healthcare and education etc etc.

The election cycle is just fluff and puff bs as it always is.  Focus on what you already have - but are spending way beyond your means.  Focus your elected officials on that.  That would make sense to most of the outside world.  But the politicians and military want you to focus on the bs topics that generate division and hatred and scandals at the grassroots level.  So not to avoid detection and scrutiny and accountability.  Create an enemy.  That is the key - real or imaginary or otherwise.  Any enemy.  So billions can be spent lining the pockets of "contractors".  Hmm?   ::)
Fast is FUN!   8)
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Beasho

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Re: Laugh at Trump all you want
« Reply #859 on: October 24, 2016, 07:57:27 PM »
In my line of business we have a saying "Given enough time it is all controllable (Discretionary) expense."

What is the breakdown of that $2.45 Trillion? 

If we're going to throw stones there's no reason to make anything off limits.

digger71

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Re: Laugh at Trump all you want
« Reply #860 on: October 24, 2016, 10:00:44 PM »
In my line of business we have a saying "Given enough time it is all controllable (Discretionary) expense."

What is the breakdown of that $2.45 Trillion? 

If we're going to throw stones there's no reason to make anything off limits.

"Mandatory" until Congress says it's not

Social Security - $967 billion
Medicare - $598 billion
Medicaid - $386 billion
Allowance for Immigration Reform - $5 billion
All other mandatory programs - $651 billion.
(Source: OMB, FY 2017 Budget, Summary Tables, Table S-5.)

Admin

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Re: Laugh at Trump all you want
« Reply #861 on: October 25, 2016, 03:21:30 AM »
What is the breakdown of that $2.45 Trillion? 

These are the top 6 Budget line items.  All but Defense and Income security are considered "Mandatory".  Basically, Entitlements and Debt.  The numbers vary a bit depending on the source and timing. 

Medicair/Medicaid 1,120 B
Social Security 911 B
Defense 579 B
Income Security 303 B
Interest on Debt 249 B
Federal Pensions 272 B

We are currently spending (wasting) 4 million dollars a day in Syria alone.  Sharpen your pencil.
« Last Edit: October 25, 2016, 03:42:37 AM by Admin »

Beasho

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Re: Laugh at Trump all you want
« Reply #862 on: October 25, 2016, 06:45:08 AM »
Nothing like a graphic to answer my own question.  As usual one question leads to another. 

Why are we spending 50% on Healthcare and Social Security? 

That amounts to $5 Billion per day.  Pencil broken.

Governments have been good at keeping us safe, building infrastructure and (maybe, losing ground) education.  The rest of us have been better at . . . the rest.

The singularity will come when robots do all of our bidding.  College will be free, food will be free and SUP's will be free. 
« Last Edit: October 25, 2016, 07:14:08 AM by Beasho »

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Re: Laugh at Trump all you want
« Reply #863 on: October 25, 2016, 07:43:26 AM »
The singularity will come when robots do all of our bidding.  College will be free, food will be free and SUP's will be free.

The more I watch this election process, wars, cruelty, etc, the more I am convinced that the first order of business for the superintelligent will be ridding themselves of us.

There is room for big reforms to entitlements but that would/will require addressing end of life care, reducing benefits that people have paid into, addressing age and death issues in general.  It is a rare politician that will tread there and speak honestly.   

ericmichaels

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Re: Laugh at Trump all you want
« Reply #864 on: October 25, 2016, 07:52:46 AM »

[/quote]

There is room for big reforms to entitlements but that would/will require addressing end of life care, reducing benefits that people have paid into, addressing age and death issues in general.  It is a rare politician that will tread there and speak honestly.   
[/quote]

Agreed. Neither side is willing to look reasonably at these kinds of subjects. People freak out at the mention of reducing benefits so politicians are scared to talk about it.
Even the most ardent small government tea party folks scream Hands off my medicare/SS/etc.

starman

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Re: Laugh at Trump all you want
« Reply #865 on: October 25, 2016, 08:57:36 AM »
How about we stop calling social security and medicare "entitlements" for starters;

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/mar/08/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20130310

PonoBill

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Re: Laugh at Trump all you want
« Reply #866 on: October 25, 2016, 10:55:27 AM »
I posted this in the Feynman thread, but it really belongs here:

Always a pleasure to listen to Richard Feynman, under any circumstance.

As part of writing my book on retirement, I studied social security fairly carefully. What I came up with is that it's a fine idea that can't work. The core problem is that people insist on living a lot longer than they were supposed to. It's fairly easy to fund a substantial part of retirement expenses with social security when the contribution to the pool is consistent with the number of people drawing from it over the expected timeframe, and the majority of retirement expenses come from pensions provided by large manufacturing firms. The manufacturing firms needed to get older people out of the jobs they could no longer do well, either because of physical limitations or dated skills. Pension savings plus social security was adequate when the retirement age is 65 and the average lifespan is 61.7 years (1935). Roughly 60 percent of the potential retirees died before retirement. Tweak the survivorship benefits and it's easy to make that work. Current average lifespan is 78.4 years in the US.  Slightly more than 70 percent of people live past 65. Survivorship benefits exited mathmatics and entered politics long ago.

Currently the average pay-in to social security is about 300K and the average payout is about $270K--so that sounds OK, but the population is aging rapidly and lifespan is increasing. Social security benefits might look pitiful to anyone trying to live on them, but they're headed upside-down, which is why economists say SS will run out of money.

Medicaide is MUCH worse. The ratio of pay in to expense is three to one. $60K in 180K out. Expect medicare charges to increase dramatically soon--Obamacare or not. And of course these entitlements will become more of a third rail as the population ages. People have a notion that they deserve these benefits because they paid into them, but in reality they didn't pay nearly enough, and eventually the entitlements need to become rational.

Obamacare is a stupid mess, reminiscent of the California utility decision to regulate electricity transmission while they deregulated generation. Blackouts and stunning electricity prices to the transmission companies were inevitable and pushed them to the edge of bankruptcy. We're seeing the same thing in healthcare. You can't regulate the requirement for health insurance without regulating the cost of providing it.
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SeldomScene

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Re: Laugh at Trump all you want
« Reply #867 on: October 25, 2016, 07:18:52 PM »
There have been ideas floated to reform Social Security to a market based, IRA type program.  Any such suggestions, even when grandfathering in current participants, have been shouted down by Democrats because people receiving entitlements are a major voting block of the party.  The Federal Civil Service Retirement System was "improved" back in the 80s, changing it to a three pronged system consisting of Social Security, a modest retirement percentage of income, and a Thrift Savings Plan which is a market based investment plan.  With this plan, "retirement" consists of leaving federal service and getting another job.  That is, if you didn't lose too much in the Thrift Plan, in which case you would get two jobs.  Older guys like me are able to actually live on their retirement (all I did was work 60 hours a week for 35 years and move 6 times.). The same type of "reform" is now being implemented in the US military.  You will no longer be able to join the Army, go to war, live where they tell you to, maybe get hurt or worse, and collect 50 per cent of your low annual pay after 20 years of service.  The current Secretary of Defense has publicly stated that we need really young people in the service who can be cycled out after a very few years, to fight our wars.  If no one stays in, the costs of pensions goes way down.  So does experience and leadership, the latter of which he apparently doesn't get.






PonoBill

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Re: Laugh at Trump all you want
« Reply #868 on: October 26, 2016, 08:35:15 AM »
The simple reality is that retirement is a dated concept, or at least it is in the manner people think about it. It's pretty hard to pay for thirty years of retirement with thirty years of working.  Especially if some fund manager is taking a big cut for doing nothing of value.  Not an easy thing to do. I'm still working on my book, but people might find some value in the rough state. The price is right, it's free.   

https://retirement.pressbooks.com/
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Bean

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Re: Laugh at Trump all you want
« Reply #869 on: October 26, 2016, 10:11:06 AM »
From the intro:

"the best way for me to embed information in my unwilling brain is to write the information as instruction for other people"

This is so true ...

I remember struggling with "intermediate accounting" at the same time one of my younger fraternity brothers, an engineering major, was struggling with "accounting 101".  After sitting with him for a few hours explaining basic accounting, I walked away with the tools I needed to blaze through "intermediate".  To this day, I believe he knew exactly what he was doing all along.  A great friend indeed...

 


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