method_capital

Anybody who believes IL was "[run] into the gutter" by Rauner is a partisan to be absolutely forever ignored. Go ahead and reinvent history (many decades of ignorance by the way) IL and the Democratic Chicago party machine have irreparably fucked the state city and it's people forever. They buried the state in debt and paid themselves ever so handsomely (ludicrous pensions and handouts to public union scumbags) ... and that's why many many people of means ... like me ... LEFT. I left before Ken though. Maybe he should have called me?

Sure. It's $3B for your school. Who gives a shit what names the buildings have on them. I'll never understand you whiners.

$2B for new Miami campus (could have been in NYC, but well ...) $1B - split w $500M for CS Dept - for Pittsburg campus

"CMU Miami will invert the traditional higher education model by organizing learning and inquiry around societal challenges rather than academic majors. It will be entirely designed and built — from first blueprints to final beam — to drive revolutionary breakthroughs that address society’s defining challenges."

Except online poker (here in the states)! Gotta keep that one prohibited. Now, betting on every freethrow Joe BBall takes in a game ... we're morally good there. It's those pesky immoral cards we have a problem with!

So many weird assumptions about men. Contrary to popular belief, we aren't all rapists or friends of rapists. And oh, by the way, some women do pretty awful stuff like this too.

Yeah, that's how this stuff should work. Accusations published then publicly crucify the "guilty". Who cares if any of this is accurate, right?

Doordash - ie "the wealthy" - spent to prevent Mamdani from getting elected. They failed. What on earth are you complaining about again?

Ok, I'll bite. How are the "wealthier ... stealing [our] money"? We don't have to use doordash or claude code or aws or amazon or anything else. We get to choose. When it comes to paying for government, however, I don't believe we're allowed to "opt out". Maybe Mamdani will give us stores so great we'll be forced to shop at them!

That'd be a strawman.

What makes you think the poster you responded to agrees with the Iran war expense? He simply commented on how difficult it is to cut anything from the Federal budget. He's right. Remember when all the lunatics were out keying Teslas a few short months ago?

Yeah ... and exactly how many of our treasury auctions have failed? Zero. Overbid by foreign parties, all of them.

Like a good little partisan: we ignore the bad about the good guys and emphasize the bad about the bad guys ... that way we win!

The calculus for the US is different than that for Canada. Most Canadiens have a very inflated view of themselves and their nation, but any honest view into this relationship shows clearly: Canada has a lot to lose; the US does not.

Clearly not an American.

Bernie has literally zero chance in a nationwide election. Read it again: ZERO.

Creativity, innovation, freedom? 10 guys in a room can't compete for long against hundreds of millions or billions pursuing their own separate interests. Sure, they can steal, but they can't create to the same degree if at all.

I'm afraid you're mistaking our lunatic leader with "us". Understandable, but this step will be wholly unnecessary as soon as December when his power will be checked (largely). I lean right, more libertarian small government type, so you're not hearing this from a blowhard on the American left. His foreign policy, the way he's treated friends has been wanton and immensely damaging, and a whole lot of us want this corrected.

We found someone whose ai believes the President controls spending!

Congress controls spending in the United States:

Cumulative Share of Debt (Post-WWII to Present)When analyzing the raw accumulation of publicly held national debt according to which party held majorities in both chambers of Congress, findings from congressional studies (such as the Joint Economic Committee) reveal distinct differences:

(https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/republicans/2011...)

Democratic Control ~57% to 74% of gross debt

Republican Control ~10% to 25% of gross debt

Split / Divided Control ~22% of public debt

He didn't say what he "wanted". We're so blinded by partisan stupidity we can't even be bothered to read, understand, and think anymore.

The two parties were run by literate, service minded, adults back in the day.

If you believe in fiscal responsibility of any kind, if you believe said is critical to the survival of the republic, if you want a better future for our children and grandchildren, then you can't possibly vote for either of these parties today. They are both complete and utter failures with no improvement in sight.

Buffett claimed you could solve the deficit problem instantly by firing congress when they run deficits. Obviously, untenable (they'll cheat, admin overhead, etc).

You could very easily force congress to balance the budget (both parties and the media have complained endlessly about this for exactly no good reason). You could also freeze spending at current levels and force congress to do it's job: allocate our limited resources most productively.

Hard to get re elected doing the right thing, but maybe we just need a throw away set of leaders to do the hard work?

Great.

Rates going higher increases interest expense materially. You either rack new debt or you cut in places that are uncomfortable. The point is: responsible leadership in the developed world has gone mia for decades. There's a price to be paid that's real.

Working is an interesting term (which I agree with btw) because place like Japan with debt at 200%+ of gdp, rates rising are going to annihilate spending in other important areas.

Maybe we should vote for people who are financially literate, can think long term, and can "conserve" rather than politicians who promise endlessly?

A) More laws to solve more problems the government has never been able to solve.

OR

B) Don't use Amazon

LOL

I keep hearing this. I have yet to find a teacher or a school district or a government employee or department or organization of any kind that didn't clamour for more more more funds.

We spend twice what we did in 1970's in real terms; results ... the same.

The reason schooling is hard to change - here in the US - is because the teachers unions and politicians work together to reduce hours, reliance on standards, eliminate "work" (homework isn't good for them!), and increase spend and pay. Government is incredibly inefficient at most tasks - on average things the government does cost twice as much - but it's incredibly terrible at education. Spending has increased - performance decreased ad infinium.

Defense won't do it.

https://manhattan.institute/article/a-comprehensive-federal-...

"Deep defense cuts. Since the 1980s, the Pentagon budget has fallen from 6% to 3% of GDP—not far above Europe’s target of 2%. Cutting U.S. defense spending to the levels pledged by European members of NATO would save 1% of GDP, or less than one-fifth of the Social Security and Medicare noninterest shortfall by the 2040s and 2050s."

Read the budget. Learn something. None of the partisan mantras solve the problem. The only solution is to trim ss, trim medicare, and raise taxes across the board.

Since the 1960s, revenue from total taxation as a percent of gdp is unchanged. Not also the difference in tax revenue between Europe and America stems mostly from policies that tax the middle class not the "rich":

https://manhattan.institute/article/a-comprehensive-federal-...

The U.S. already taxes the rich—measured by both tax rates and tax revenues—at levels roughly equal to the OECD average. Yes, the other 38 OECD nations collect tax revenues that, on average, exceed the U.S. by 7.5% of GDP (at all levels of government). However, nearly this entire difference results from the other 38 OECD nations hitting their middle class with value-added taxes (VATs) that raise an average of 7.2% of GDP. And while the progressive avatars of Finland, Norway, and Sweden exceed U.S. tax revenues by 16% of GDP, that gap virtually disappears after accounting for the 14.5% of GDP in higher payroll and VAT revenues that broadly hit the Nordic middle class. Europe finances its progressive spending levels on the backs of the middle class, not the wealthy.[37]

This plan should be a must read for people from any spot along the American political spectrum.

Dogs have masters; cats have servants.

Overspending for decades. Rationalization requires economic pain. Big surprise: restraint lacks the support pissing money every which way enjoys.

The answer is: nothing. The whole argument is predicated on a political conviction, not an economic reality.

Naked Lunch? Unsubscribe. Burroughs, the degenerate murderer -- literally -- is the most overrated writer of all time.

Wow, so much negativity in the early comments. I've been in the space decades and there's at least 2-3 years of education to be gained here. Great piece, thank you!