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[Sprin]

Cutting entightlements like powder sugested could be a start. At the very least making an effort to not make people rely on them for their well being.

The Free Market™ will make everyone able to afford housing/education/healthcare/food/etc., right?

Foods pretty cheap

[Powder Miner]

The vast majority of US debt doesn't come from subsidies -- it comes from entitlements. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the like.

Most countries actually spend a much smaller portion of their budget on those things (and provide a better service at the other end), the US just has craptons of administrative inefficiency gobbling it all up.

That's part of it, but "administrative efficiency" can't cause costs of this scale. I think that the main issue is that we are just really really really BIG. The United States has a ton of people, and we dwarf every single European country out there in population, as well as Canada, Australia, and NZ. We're barely even comparable -- Germany is the biggest non-Russia European country, and they're only 1/4th our population. Naturally, it costs a whole lot more to provide benefits to such a larger population.

[Shadowlord]

Cutting entightlements like powder sugested could be a start. At the very least making an effort to not make people rely on them for their well being.

Yes, we should just give the poors living in jobless zones free guns and tents and bus them to the forests so they can live off the land, hunting and cooking deer for food, like in the good old days when there were infinite deer and people only lived 30 years! #sarcasm

[Powder Miner]

#strawman

[Shadowlord]

The vast majority of US debt doesn't come from subsidies -- it comes from entitlements. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the like.

Most countries actually spend a much smaller portion of their budget on those things (and provide a better service at the other end), the US just has craptons of administrative inefficiency gobbling it all up.

That's part of it, but "administrative efficiency" can't cause costs of this scale. I think that the main issue is that we are just really really really BIG. The United States has a ton of people, and we dwarf every single European country out there in population, as well as Canada, Australia, and NZ. We're barely even comparable -- Germany is the biggest non-Russia European country, and they're only 1/4th our population. Naturally, it costs a whole lot more to provide benefits to such a larger population.

He said "portion" of budget, though, not absolute monetary value.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Yes, we should just give the poors living in jobless zones free guns and tents and bus them to the forests so they can live off the land, hunting and cooking deer for food, like in the good old days when there were infinite deer and people only lived 30 years! #sarcasm

We shall cross the deer with the aphid to produce a new flesh for our needs, the realization of the visceral barbarian slaughter, the rising godhood of a birthing chamber underwater, writhing as we all choke on the ashes of equity payments and no money down for the ultimate realization for the children of Mammon, lord below all.

[mainiac]

Nah I was just saying after taxes Jesus would still be saying give your money. Please don't assume that I think the bible should be US law.

I do give my money.  And my time.

Costs about 10,460,188,800 a day to run the gov as it is now. I think the main problem is spending.

Ohh big number devoid of concept.  I'm totally convinced.

[Powder Miner]

Why not go for the obvious big spender - defence? USA invests a downright ridiculous amount of money into that, with questionable returns.

Because it isn't comparable at all to entitlement spending, which constantly increases in percentage. Defense is one sixth of the budget, approximately. Entitlements are four times that, and this is after significant defense cuts. You'd have to cripple the military just to get a brief respite, and even then it would fix 0 of the underlying issues. Besides, at that point you're just transferring money from discretionary spending to mandatory spending, and giving away control of what you can actually choose to spend.

[Powder Miner]

@Shadowlord: I'm aware he did. I'm saying we spend so much more of our budget on it because of a matter of scale. Absolute monetary value and percentage of budget are connected directly, after all.

[Orange Wizard]

@Shadowlord: I'm aware he did. I'm saying we spend so much more of our budget on it because of a matter of scale. Absolute monetary value and percentage of budget are connected directly, after all.

The US spends a bigger portion of the budget, meaning more spent per person, but at the end of the day those people get less than in the places that spend less in the first place. That's my point.

Most countries actually spend a much smaller portion of their budget on those things (and provide a better service at the other end), the US just has craptons of administrative inefficiency gobbling it all up.

That's part of it, but "administrative efficiency" can't cause costs of this scale.

The EU is a slightly more decentralised version of the US (with ~twice the people) and they handle it fine

Because it isn't comparable at all to entitlement spending, which constantly increases in percentage. Defense is one sixth of the budget, approximately.

$600 billion dollars is spent of defence, more than the next 10 countries on the list combined

If that's not an absurdly huge waste of money then what the fuck is

[Morrigi]

The EU is doing many things, but "handling it fine" is not one of the terms I would use to describe any of them.

[Orange Wizard]

This is in specific relation to welfare, and they're the best in the world at that

Admittedly we're comparing "not great" to "even less great", but it's still way better than anything else implemented thus far.

...

Anyway, I'm going to bed. Feel free to mutter "socialist scum" and the like once I'm gone

[Sprin]

Nah I was just saying after taxes Jesus would still be saying give your money. Please don't assume that I think the bible should be US law.

I do give my money.  And my time.

Costs about 10,460,188,800 a day to run the gov as it is now. I think the main problem is spending.

Ohh big number devoid of concept.  I'm totally convinced.

Great I love yah keep it up

Im merelly trying to make the point that the amount people earn and the amount the gov spends is incrediblly dispreportional.

 I feel your acting like theres zero point to anything im trying to say in an attempt to feel intelectually superior.

[Shadowlord]

Great I love yah keep it up

Im merelly trying to make the point that the amount people earn and the amount the gov spends is incrediblly dispreportional.

 I feel your acting like theres zero point to anything im trying to say in an attempt to feel intelectually superior.

More like:

[Sprin]

My sides

Anyway off to contribute to capitalism