MLCKAA

*You* believe they’re being hasty, but you do not know what has been examined. Simply, you do not know.

Handling this way does not “guarantee” the loss of essential services. That’s simply not quantifiable. Don’t use hyperbole. It allows the possibility of that happening, as well as the possibility of it not happening. It allows the possibility that the number 80,000 will eventually be deemed too few cuts. Going with an arbitrary number (if it even is arbitrary, which you wouldn’t know) guarantees only one thing— the number.

I believe it is apropos. Those are efficient corporations making economic impact and dealing with real-world variables day in, day out. If they can handle the many, many challenges they do and still be as impactful as they are with far fewer employees, then the VA can undergo some scrutiny without all this handwringing.

AT&T employs 141k people Apple employs 164k people American Airlines employs 132k people State Farm employs 65k people But there are some people who believe that the VA needs 482k employees?

Who knows this is necessarily a bad thing? The VA has 482,000 employees. Do people really believe there is no bloat there? There couldn’t possibly be low hanging fruit? I have a close relative who works at a massive federal office. She has told me countless stories about people sleeping at their desks, secret nap rooms, 3 hour lunches, people operating their own little side businesses from their gov’t desks, etc. I’m not concerned at all about federal workforces being reduced.

Iowa State for me

I like a little biting.

Not as well as when I was 25, but still working well enough.

Most of the russian casualty figures I see are reported by Ukraine so I don’t know what to believe about the numbers.

The Democrat party almost seems like they’re the party of “Everything should be comfortable all the time in perpetuity no matter what.” The entire federal government is like an old lady’s purse that needs to be turned upside down and shaken out. Funding and budgeting absurdity has carried on far too long. Everything should be subject to the scalpel. I said previously, pain now-relief in the next generation. America pays the piper. Absolutely everything should be looked at. Should have happened 30 years ago, but maybe it’s going to happen now instead.

Just for clarification, are you calling me garbage?

The tax cuts are only for billionaires. Dang it!

Hell, I watched that on live TV in my 6th grade classroom.

The BK rants prompted this. WTF is up with commercials today? First of all, the Charmin Bears are fecalpheliacs. Secondly, when did we become a society that accepts the proposition that every square inch of our bodies need to be deodorized. Shannon Klingman, go to hell. Is it really necessary to have HIV prep commercials at all? Let alone ones where the actors say “We know we should have used a condom— whoops!”

72 hour deodorant? Take a shower!!

I speak with farmers 5 days a week. Don’t know much about grants. I know an awful lot of them have a line of credit for operating capital.

You may find theories and postulates of anything in the information age. But the only way to blame tariffs for the rise of Nazis is in an 18 Degrees of Kevin Bacon way. Meaning it would be the consequence of a consequence of a consequence of a consequence of a consequence.

If it’s not sudden, then it’s just something you’ve failed to discuss until very recently, despite it apparently being the most important political issue for you. All this time that you posted incessantly about trans and immigration policy violators, tariffs were secretly your bridge too far. Look, you can go ahead with claiming that tariffs created the Nazis if you want to, but you take a major credibility hit by doing so. It’s an excessive reach that’s ultimately no more than a protracted effort to smear Trump and it’s denigrating to everyone who died in WWII, as well as their ancestors.

Oh my lord. It’s universally agreed that the Treaty of Versailles is what gave rise to the Third Reich. Your sudden outrage over tariffs is interesting, but not enough so that I’ll continue posting about it. Be well.

Tariffs played a quite small role in causing the Great Depression. It is not in any way a consensus that most economists believe tariffs “brought on the Great Depression.” It is one of the least significant factors, paling timidly compared to much greater and more widely accepted causes.

You are not Christian.

I hear what you’re saying. To me, your perspective is valid and I see your point.

The tariffs don’t almost guarantee economic doom and reversing them would not almost guarantee economic prosperity. You’re smart, so you know this— the unforeseeable variables of the global socioeconomic fabric and the influence of future technological advances make it impossible to do anything better than predictive modeling. And predictive modeling has been slapped in the face by unforeseeable variables time and again.

Really? Is this hyperbole? This sounds like tariffs are your #1 political issue. In exchange for no tariffs you’d accept the current president remaining in office for 20 years. This has to mean tariffs are your overall top issue, which makes you the only person I have ever “met” with this particular set of priorities.

I’m not exactly on the fence with this; I can generally support it. However, there’s a difference between spending a bunch of SNAP money on junk food and simply eating things that are part of American diet zeitgeist. For example, getting chips or a bag of Oreos is simply living. I would hope we’re not going to tell people on food stamps that they can’t have any comfort foods. On the other hand, a whole lot of SNAP dollars are spent at the gas station. Regarding whether or not canned, boxed and frozen meals are actually healthy, I understand the argument that they’re high sodium, high calorie and often low quality. But that’s not the only variable to consider. Having those things can foster family togetherness if you believe in the importance of family dinner, which I do. They’re also time-saving, which could be important to many of the families on SNAP.