Bernie is on JRE

Feel free.

 

So when yuu take advantage of those things just like a business , where does the money come from?

It’s not free. It costs someone and most of the time it’s taxpayers or other customers.

So you’ve already declared you are ok with taking from others as long as they are a faceless, nameless mass.

I seriously doubt I’m parroting any parties’ rhetoric. I want accountability. Personal and governmental.

Growing the government is not gonna make that happen . You want to “change” the system. You can’t change it by growing it.

The more power the gov has the more corporations and people will want to influence them to use that power for their own reasons .

It’s how it’s always worked and how it always will.

 

Were you replying to me with this?

I hate that I have to keep making this point, but I don't have faith in the government we're working with to shit without getting it all over their shoes. EVERYTHING I discuss is predicated on draining the swamp, firing roughly half of the worthless bureaucrats, and making government run like a business - costs at a minimum, results at a maximum. Everything the government "provides" (healthcare, education, etc) should be treated the same way a business treats an expense - you do whatever possible to reduce it and get the most bang for your buck. The federal government is the most prolific consumer on the planet, they should have the buying power to dictate to their suppliers what they're going to pay, but instead of doing that, we have a labyrinth of purchasing rules that lead to huge amounts of overhead and waste. They need to fire the entire GAO and poach the buyers from Walmart and Amazon.

 

When did I say I wanted to grow the government? If you knew me (or saw some of my tattoos) you'd piss yourself laughing at what a crazy mis-characterization that is. If we're still referring to the college thread, my solution was to take from the schools and banks that profited so greatly from the inflated tuition and loan process. If you're referring to healthcare, we pay for it by reducing costs and eliminating the "fox guarding the hen house" arrangement we have now with the entities profiting (insurance, healthcare corps, and pharma corps) running the show.

Our government is totally infiltrated by big business, at great cost and despair to the people the government was intended to represent. As citizens, we need to take it back and make it work for us, instead of continuing to allow these companies and the government to use us as cash cows to grow their coffers.

 

You can't seem to grasp that the government needs
to be taken out of the picture, not "streamlined"
You're not seeing the real problem.

 

Every solution you have posed involves government.

 

Yes it does, but not the bloated pig we've been led to believe we have to tolerate. That's what this means:

EVERYTHING I discuss is predicated on draining the swamp, firing roughly half of the worthless bureaucrats, and making government run like a business...

 

I want too... just not sure that I can, or perhaps that I fully believe it anymore. I just tend to view organizations as composed of people, and they can be effective or ineffective, and there's little difference between public or private (as far as efficiency/effectiveness potential). Of course, as I age, my views may be changing...

 

When the swamp is drained, I may consider the possibility that you have a valid position. Until then, no.

 

You might as well throw in world peace and cure all diseases too,
you've got just as good a chance at those.

The mission of any bureaucracy eventually becomes
supporting and propagating itself. It will not shrink itself.

 

Fatalistic attitudes like yours sure as hell won’t help either.

 

Neither will plans based on unicorn dreams. Change the reality, then work on the dreams.

 

You have to have a goal, and an inspiration.

 

It helps to get the horse before the cart.

 

Serious question...

Could you elaborate on what principle leads you to disagree with what Acree had stated?

 

If you think you can't beat Mat Mladin is that a fatalistic attitude?

 

I could beat that old asshole!

 

When I become president I'm going to allow veterinarians to treat people. Med school is med school, and $1500 for knee surgery beats $150,000.

Problem solved

 

No hope with the Feds until we have a balanced budget amendment. Once taxes have to be raised for out of control spending, then spending can be addressed. Until then everything "seems" to be for free.

 

I know you’re joking, but there really is something to this. If I take my dog to the vet, they’ll do an examination for $40. Then they’ll explain what they find and tell me that the options are a, b, and c and the costs are $100, $300, and $500, along with risks and outcomes. At this point I can choose one of the options or I can go to another vet to check pricing, or I can do more research on my own. Virtually none of that happens at a people doctor. You have no idea what you’re paying until you get the bill, and even then it’s a convoluted mess.