[alias]

With God as my witness, I have whined about the entitlement programs with more than equal measure.

God bless you, sir. You are fighting the good fight.

[ultimda horaf]

Pork is such a minute portion of government spending that the amount of attention drawn to it is hilarious. Not true, pork is all over the place, not just a bridge in Alaska.
For example, we ship coal to Europe to provide energy for our troops when its cheaper to buy energy from the host countries. Why? Members of Congress from coal states want to soak the rest of us.

I guess it depends on how you define pork, I define it broadly - if I'm paying for stuff in your state unrelated to security, its pork. I'd also include corporate subsidies which last I heard from Cato was up around 100 billion a year. Here's another example, after hurricane Andrew hit Florida a bunch of people with construction equipment volunteered to go down and help rebuild. They were not welcomed, Florida wanted federal funds and they wanted those funds to pay union wages. Even if rebuilding aint pork, the obvious effort to soak the rest of us was pork.

[anfuckinggs]

Originally posted by Oerdin
I do know what one person calls pork often is considered a vital project by others. I knew you wouldn't disappoint.

[Imampaictjg]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
I knew you wouldn't disappoint. Read the whole thread before quoting one sentence out of a dozen posts.

[corolaelwis]

When was I attacking military spending?

JM
(of course, a good chunk of it could be spent on better military projects.. )

[wmtravelservice]

Originally posted by Oerdin


Read the whole thread before quoting one sentence out of a dozen posts. Well I loved the post where you attacked CAGW as somesort of right-wing group but it was too long to quote.

[gundas]

Originally posted by Admiral
So I admit to being a bit of an idealist, but the Democrats have lately become deficit hawks, and know that they have to differentiate themselves from the GOP status quo. The Republicans, meanwhile, may take their defeat as a call to go back to their roots, which is small government, which is less pork.
Pfft. Democrats making noise about the deficit does not equal a change in their modus operandus.

[PharmACT]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
If Social Security goes, the whole system will be going with it. The problem isn't systemic, it's demographic. That problem doesn't go away just because you switch to a private retirement system from a public one. If there aren't enough people to pay into SS, then there aren't enough people to keep stocks afloat.
People have this binary thing about SS. Either it stays as it is, or its going, and will give nothing to the current generation.

If you cut benefits, or raise retirement ages, you can make massive changes to the solvency. Its having the political will to do that, and to balance that appropriately against revenue mechanisms, thats the tough nut to crack.

Remember, back when FDR passed Social Sec, it was NOT expected that most people would retire at 60, and then collect till theyre 90. Retirement ages were later, and life expectancy was shorter. SS was to help you mainly IF you lived an unexpectdedly long life. Thats why its social INSURANCE - to insure you against something that wasnt a certainty.

[AlexBrith]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
When was I attacking military spending?

JM
(of course, a good chunk of it could be spent on better military projects.. ) I'm all for a runaway, bloated defense Budget. Hell, I think we should edge back up to 10% during the Eisenhower era.


Of course, I'm a tiny bit biased.

[Vomazoono]

A good chunk of Social Security is wasted on people who don't need the help. And then there's all those people who die before getting what they paid in...