School Lunches

Apologies for the pie chart - it wasn't meant to be political in what the spending breakdown was, but more to show the vastness of our budget and how $13 billion is a drop in the bucket to find room for (again, within our current budget).

BTW, can you explain how military spending creates jobs but spending in other areas (government jobs, healthcare, education) doesn't create jobs? I'm waiting for the (majority) far-right leaning population in this thread to condemn you for your "libtard logic" there.

Finally, (aside from arguably very fine young men and women) what does the defense department produce?

 

A "scientific" calorie is the amount of energy the will raise 1 cc of water 1 degree celsius. A food calorie is 1000 of these. They are not the same thing. Think about it, a Milkyway at 400 food calories has enough energy to raise 4 liters of liquid water from just melted to just ready to boil. I once saw a show that was discussing this subject. They showed how much a tour-de-france bicycle rider ate in one day and converted it into jelly donuts at 350 kcals/per Jelly Donut Units(JDU's)...They then took the 35 (Yes...35!) JDUs and put them on a weber grill and set them on fire....Holt Shitte! That's some impressive energy.

Back to the subject, My grand daughter gets a card at her school that she uses to buy lunch. The card is funded by my daughter. A poor kid gets his card funded by the school and no one knows the difference. The issue of "shaming" is solved. What I disagree with is "shaming" has its place in society, perhaps not for kids on kids, but certainly towards adults. It's one method society has for altering behavior without resorting to violence/government etc. When adults "have no shame" is when the real problem starts.

 

makes no sense to me either. What in the hell are these parents doing? Ive had access to money that was earned or given to since I was 10. In elementary school (the 80s) I could get a sandwich & small cup of peanuts & raisins for $.40. Milk was additional $.35 if you wanted. I tried bringing lunch from home but the food "smell" of whatever lingered in my book bag, and it still sickens me today. Plus I hate knowing what im going to eat... seems less exciting...

 

The thing that separates defense from the others is that there is no private market equivalent.

 

I believe all public school lunches are already partially subsidized. The 30 million number is probably a calculation based on the dollars spent vs the kids fed.

 

There's no private market equivalent (in scale) for any of the categories I listed. If we're talking in principle, there are equivalents for all of them.

http://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-most-powerful-mercenary-armies-2012-06

 

Sure there are. You don't think people spend vast amounts of their personal money on healthcare, housing, food, transportation, etc? Plus there are equivalents for several. Also, keep in mind that this money isn't necessarily for purchase of goods and services, it may also go towards regulation, which stymies the private sector.

And no, all the mercenaries in the world wouldn't add up to what our military spends in a month.

 

I think we're talking past each other. The below paste is what I meant when I said there's a private equivalent for certain public sectors; not sure where or why people (consumers) entered the picture. And I'm aware that our military spends oodles and oodles of money (ergo my comment related to "scale").

 

I'm putting a dollar equivalent qualifier on my comparison. Yes, both Valentino Rossi and I both ride motorcycles on race tracks, but no, there is no valid comparison between the two of us.

 

Let me know when Blackwater is developing ship mounted rail gun artillery.

 

Isn't the general consensus that if a public entity is doing it, that a private entity could do it cheaper and more efficiently? Said another way, I'm sure Blackwater could develop ship mounted rail gun nuclear holocaust kill super deathmachines if they were given the same budget that the navy is for it...............right?

 

So, in this case the public entity (US Military) is using private industry to do the development. This is direct governmental spending going into the economy, at a scale that Blackwater isn't going to match, as an example. Who would Blackwater's customer base be to let them support that level of spending on an R&D project, and what would the world have to look like for Blackwater to be that big without competition splitting up the potential customer pool?

 

Anybody who thinks that Blackwater is equivalent to the US military understands neither Blackwater nor the military.

And FWIW, there is no such thing as Blackwater anymore and just using that name shows how uneducated a person is about the company and the issue in discussion.

 

Their customer base/pool in this hypothetical scenario would be every man, woman, and child in the US (I guess just man and woman, as I don't believe children can pay taxes).

That being said, I feel as though a simple example to show that D-Zum's statement regarding military spending and job creation seemed antithetical to generally held conservative viewpoints regarding government spending has jumped the rails a bit with specific examples of Dr. Evil's laser and its associated P&L.

 

Other than obscene waste, I take no issue with spending on defense/military considering that is one of the key things our government should be doing. Giving grants to scientist so they can study the mating rituals of some insect, not so much. Giving money to Mexico for abortions, not so much. The list is endless of shit our government shouldn't be spending money on.

 

I can't find the federal control of school anything in the Constitution. But strangely enough, defense is in there pretty plain and clear.

 

The welfare clause just bit you in the ass again.

 

Not my ass, but clearly someone's. Those that think general means "whatever I want" are beyond help.

 

Ultimately, that would be the SCOTUS. Has it occurred to you to file a lawsuit? I'm sure it's unconstitutional if you say so.

 

Hard to keep up with all of Prince's and Blackwater's legal trouble and now what, 3 name changes as a result of all of that?