BruceVC Posted December 25, 2015 Author Share Posted December 25, 2015 (edited) Guys I feel I need to add something. Some people feel I am obsessed with Clinton and I'm trying to get everyone to agree she is the best candidate. That has never been my intention and if I seem to have been coming across as pushy then I apologize. I also don't like Clinton just because she is a women, that is not enough just to classify as the best candidate. For me there have been several important changes that have occurred in the USA under Obama...the main ones being the fact the Federal government has the right to intervene in the states in certain political and social events like the Gay Marriage Bill. Clinton is going to continue implementing Obama's policies and she does have experience in American politics as she was a NY senator and Secretary of State. I see her continuing Obama's policies as a good thing, the general objective being focusing on the middle class and ensuring a more equatable society for all of the USA Its hard for me to look at the USA and think how terrible things are....you guys have a very low unemployment rate and the strongest economy in the world so for me the USA under Obama is doing very well and I would naturally expect most people to want this to continue. But I also understand many of you have valid concerns with Clinton and the Democrats and even if I may not agree or understand this criticism I respect your views and I am genuinely interested in your issues with the Democrats which many people have explained Anyway my objective was not to annoy people about this topic so once again I apologize if I did create that impression Edited December 25, 2015 by BruceVC 1 "Abashed the devil stood and felt how awful goodness is and saw Virtue in her shape how lovely: and pined his loss” John Milton "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” - George Bernard Shaw "What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead" - Nelson Mandela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoonDing Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 I guess cultural hegemony is judged by Starbucks, MacDonalds and Justin Bieber? The ending of the words is ALMSIVI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkpriest Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 Nah KFC better than Bieber Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calax Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 a Propeller blade on the USS Ronald Reagan? You mean one of these? What's the problem exactly? Did the Navy order one made out of glass, gold plated or the wrong size? No, we just don't need another supercarrier added to the fleet. Especially given a time where everyone and their brother is shouting "austerity, we won't make it another year without cutting budgets!" 1 Victor of the 5 year fan fic competition! Kevin Butler will awesome your face off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vaeliorin Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 I see her continuing Obama's policies as a good thing, the general objective being focusing on the middle class and ensuring a more equatable society for all of the USAIf you think that's the goal of Obama's policies you've been gravely misinformed. The middle class has done nothing but shrink for a good number of years. Its hard for me to look at the USA and think how terrible things are....you guys have a very low unemployment rate and the strongest economy in the world so for me the USA under Obama is doing very well and I would naturally expect most people to want this to continue.If you'd listen to the people who live here instead of the talking heads on TV, you'd realize that it's not the common people that are doing well, it's the elite. Many people are underemployed, the minimum wage isn't enough for families to live on, and for the first time in generations people don't expect to be better off than their parents. I'm not saying any of the candidates will solve these problems, but sticking with the status quo certainly won't. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceVC Posted December 25, 2015 Author Share Posted December 25, 2015 I see her continuing Obama's policies as a good thing, the general objective being focusing on the middle class and ensuring a more equatable society for all of the USAIf you think that's the goal of Obama's policies you've been gravely misinformed. The middle class has done nothing but shrink for a good number of years. Its hard for me to look at the USA and think how terrible things are....you guys have a very low unemployment rate and the strongest economy in the world so for me the USA under Obama is doing very well and I would naturally expect most people to want this to continue.If you'd listen to the people who live here instead of the talking heads on TV, you'd realize that it's not the common people that are doing well, it's the elite. Many people are underemployed, the minimum wage isn't enough for families to live on, and for the first time in generations people don't expect to be better off than their parents. I'm not saying any of the candidates will solve these problems, but sticking with the status quo certainly won't. Fair enough, yes I don't see it like that and of course its possible that I am missing something But I do travel to the USA once a year for work more or less and more importantly I work for an American software company which is profitable and makes software that we sell in the financial sector and this software really works and has benefits...its based on eDiscovery ( electronic discovery ) I'm just mentioning this because I don't want you to think I have no experience with the American business culture. But I do realize I probably deal with Americans who are doing really well so my view is not necessarily representative of what all Americans think... but I just want you to understand the Americans I know don't all think the American economy is bad but they do work in the financial sector so they may be biased ? "Abashed the devil stood and felt how awful goodness is and saw Virtue in her shape how lovely: and pined his loss” John Milton "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” - George Bernard Shaw "What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead" - Nelson Mandela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kgambit Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 (edited) a Propeller blade on the USS Ronald Reagan? You mean one of these? <snip> What's the problem exactly? Did the Navy order one made out of glass, gold plated or the wrong size? No, we just don't need another supercarrier added to the fleet. Especially given a time where everyone and their brother is shouting "austerity, we won't make it another year without cutting budgets!" Considering the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) was christened in 2001, your objection seems just a trifle bit late. Edited December 25, 2015 by kgambit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calax Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 a Propeller blade on the USS Ronald Reagan? You mean one of these? <snip> What's the problem exactly? Did the Navy order one made out of glass, gold plated or the wrong size? No, we just don't need another supercarrier added to the fleet. Especially given a time where everyone and their brother is shouting "austerity, we won't make it another year without cutting budgets!" Considering the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) was christened in 2001, your objection seems just a trifle bit late. But they're building the JFK (CVN 79) with the keel laid in 2015, and a new Enterprise with the keel scheduled to be laid in 2018. And these are 18 billion a pop. Victor of the 5 year fan fic competition! Kevin Butler will awesome your face off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kgambit Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 (edited) a Propeller blade on the USS Ronald Reagan? You mean one of these? <snip> What's the problem exactly? Did the Navy order one made out of glass, gold plated or the wrong size? No, we just don't need another supercarrier added to the fleet. Especially given a time where everyone and their brother is shouting "austerity, we won't make it another year without cutting budgets!" Considering the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) was christened in 2001, your objection seems just a trifle bit late. But they're building the JFK (CVN 79) with the keel laid in 2015, and a new Enterprise with the keel scheduled to be laid in 2018. And these are 18 billion a pop. No. The total program cost is $36 billion for THREE carriers and includes ~ $5 billion dollars for R&D. The actual cost for construction of the Gerald Ford was ~$9 billion dollars and the average cost for each carrier estimated at $10.45 billion spread over 5 years. The Gerald Ford was launched in 2013 and will be commissioned this coming year, the JFK has a scheduled launch in 2018 and the Enterprise has a scheduled launch in 2023. The Gerald Ford replaced the forty year old Nimitz and the other 2 Ford class carriers are intended to replace the Eisenhower - commissioned in 1977 and the Carl Vinson - commissioned in 1982. If you were referring to the future Gerald Ford class carriers why did you specifically mention the Ronald Reagan which is a Nimitz class and then just it's propeller? Thinking the USN was building a SHIELD Heli-carrier perhaps? If you really want to bitch about something, try complaining about the actual waste and fraud in the budget. Like the $60 billion ANNUAL waste due to Health care fraud ($10 billion from Medicaid alone) or Social Security waste where the government is making SS payments to approximately 6.5 million people who are over the age of 112. Edit: Revised the program costs, added R&D and more cost details. Edited December 25, 2015 by kgambit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leferd Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 If you really want to bitch about something, try complaining about the actual waste and fraud in the budget. Like the $60 billion ANNUAL waste due to Health care fraud ($10 billion from Medicaid alone) or Social Security waste where the government is making SS payments to approximately 6.5 million people who are over the age of 112. Sounds to me like we should expand the Federal law enforcement and Treasury Dept. budget so we can hire more Secret Service agents, IRS agents, Postal Inspectors, U.S. Attorneys, and fund better equipment and the like to catch these crooks! "Things are funny...are comedic, because they mix the real with the absurd." - Buzz Aldrin."P-O-T-A-T-O-E" - Dan Quayle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kgambit Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 (edited) If you really want to bitch about something, try complaining about the actual waste and fraud in the budget. Like the $60 billion ANNUAL waste due to Health care fraud ($10 billion from Medicaid alone) or Social Security waste where the government is making SS payments to approximately 6.5 million people who are over the age of 112. Sounds to me like we should expand the Federal law enforcement and Treasury Dept. budget so we can hire more Secret Service agents, IRS agents, Postal Inspectors, U.S. Attorneys, and fund better equipment and the like to catch these crooks! There is a program in place to investigate Medicaid fraud called Recovery Audit Contractor (created by Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006) which has had a great beginning and recovered over a billion dollars. Maybe we should start eliminating redundancies and instituting some real oversight on how tax money is spent instead of just blindly calling for budget cuts. Edited December 25, 2015 by kgambit 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calax Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 a Propeller blade on the USS Ronald Reagan? You mean one of these? <snip> What's the problem exactly? Did the Navy order one made out of glass, gold plated or the wrong size? No, we just don't need another supercarrier added to the fleet. Especially given a time where everyone and their brother is shouting "austerity, we won't make it another year without cutting budgets!" Considering the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) was christened in 2001, your objection seems just a trifle bit late. But they're building the JFK (CVN 79) with the keel laid in 2015, and a new Enterprise with the keel scheduled to be laid in 2018. And these are 18 billion a pop. No. The total program cost is $36 billion for THREE carriers and includes ~ $5 billion dollars for R&D. The actual cost for construction of the Gerald Ford was ~$9 billion dollars and the average cost for each carrier estimated at $10.45 billion. The Gerald Ford which was launched in 2013 and will be commissioned this coming year, the JFK with a scheduled launch in 2018 and the Enterprise with a scheduled launch in 2023. If you were referring to the future Gerald Ford class carriers why did you specifically mention the Ronald Reagan which is a Nimitz class and then just it's propeller? Thinking the USN was building a SHIELD Heli-carrier perhaps? If you really want to bitch about something, try complaining about the actual waste and fraud in the budget. Like the $60 billion ANNUAL waste due to Health care fraud ($10 billion from Medicaid alone) or Social Security waste where the government is making SS payments to approximately 6.5 million people who are over the age of 112. The reason I targeted the Carrier program is because it's the single largest line item in the government budget I could think of, and because it's ultimately unnecessary. We aren't shrinking our carrier fleet to deal with the outrageous budget, and pushing that money into other things, instead we're steadily increasing our military spending while crying about fraud. If you gave the IRS, or any oversight comission the amount of money that it takes for ONE carrier as their 5 year budget, you'd see massive returns and cuts in spending. But instead we get more carriers, and 68 F-35's stuck in the budget. Victor of the 5 year fan fic competition! Kevin Butler will awesome your face off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leferd Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 Contractors are expensive...especially contractors who do not have the legal authorization to request subpoenas or search warrants, and make arrests. I'm sure Uncle Sam would like to catch as many of these crooks and I.R.S agents and Postal Inspectors and the various Assistant U.S. Attorneys are working to nab as many of these fraudsters as they can...but I'd bet as is the case for most things government, it's got to do with budget and resources. They may create specific task forces to divert some resources by way of agents, inspectors, analysts, and prosecutors to specifically target health care fraud, but as in most fraudulent crimes...such cases take months and even years to jacket, investigate, and prosecute. "Things are funny...are comedic, because they mix the real with the absurd." - Buzz Aldrin."P-O-T-A-T-O-E" - Dan Quayle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enoch Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 (edited) If you really want to bitch about something, try complaining about the actual waste and fraud in the budget. Like the $60 billion ANNUAL waste due to Health care fraud ($10 billion from Medicaid alone). Those numbers don't mean what you think they mean. They're from estimates produced under the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002, which requires agencies to estimate the amount of all "improper payments" in their programs. "Improper Payments" is much broader than fraud. It includes any overpayment, underpayment, payment made to the wrong recipient, and, for complicated reasons, any payment for which the people doing the estimate can't find sufficient supporting information to verify. https://paymentaccuracy.gov/ is the official reporting vehicle. It's also not a great way to defend DOD spending, because DOD can't even get its recordkeeping together well enough to produce a statistically valid estimate. But, yeah, federally-funded state-administered programs with huge numbers of beneficiaries and complicated qualification criteria are the areas where it is hardest to ensure that payments are going to the right people. (Particularly in the healthcare field, where time doesn't often allow for lengthy verification processes.) You can always make improvements, but it's kind of the nature of the beast with that type of spending. Edited December 25, 2015 by Enoch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kgambit Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 (edited) If you really want to bitch about something, try complaining about the actual waste and fraud in the budget. Like the $60 billion ANNUAL waste due to Health care fraud ($10 billion from Medicaid alone). Those numbers don't mean what you think they mean. They're from estimates produced under the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002, which requires agencies to estimate the amount of all "improper payments" in their programs. "Improper Payments" is much broader than fraud. It includes any overpayment, underpayment, payment made to the wrong recipient, and, for complicated reasons, any payment for which the people doing the estimate can't find sufficient supporting information to verify. https://paymentaccuracy.gov/ is the official reporting vehicle. It's also not a great way to defend DOD spending, because DOD can't even get its recordkeeping together well enough to produce a statistically valid estimate. But, yeah, federally-funded state-administered programs with huge numbers of beneficiaries and complicated qualification criteria are the areas where it is hardest to ensure that payments are going to the right people. (Particularly in the healthcare field, where time doesn't often allow for lengthy verification processes.) You can always make improvements, but it's kind of the nature of the beast with that type of spending. I do know the difference Enoch. I was quoting estimates for fraudulent claims only. An estimate by the GAO published in October of this year, (see attached link) for improper payments is much higher (as you would expect). From the enclosed link: The improper payment estimate, attributable to 124 programs across 22 agencies in fiscal year 2014, was $124.7 billion, up from $105.8 billion in fiscal year 2013. The almost $19 billion increase was primarily due to the Medicare, Medicaid, and Earned Income Tax Credit programs, which account for over 75 percent of the government-wide improper payment estimate. http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-16-92T I'm not trying to gloss over the issues with the DOD budget. The cost overruns for the F-35 program are well known and some people think the entire program was wasted money. I can't tell you if the cost overruns are due to improper program management, poor initial cost estimates, fraud or something else. I'm not suggesting that the DOD doesn't have some house cleaning to do as well. Regardless of whether the waste is endemic to the systems or not, the waste does exist and on a massive scale. PS: I'll concede that any estimate is no better than the underlying assumptions driving it. I don't consider estimates hard numbers - more as indicators of the potential magnitude of the problem. Edited December 25, 2015 by kgambit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrath of Dagon Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 We don't need any ****ing refugees: http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2016/01/07/iraqi-refugee-arrested-houston-terrorism-investigation/ Go Trump! "Moral indignation is a standard strategy for endowing the idiot with dignity." Marshall McLuhan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barothmuk Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Breitbart 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrath of Dagon Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 You disdain Breitbart, yet they report stories main stream media tries to hide: http://dailycaller.com/2016/01/07/germanys-largest-broadcaster-apologizes-for-not-reporting-sexual-assault-attacks/ http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/columnists/article4659368.ece "Moral indignation is a standard strategy for endowing the idiot with dignity." Marshall McLuhan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilcat Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 It is funny to watch US presidency run if you are not from US. It is like Democrats are your standard establishment vs labour conflict, but then there is a whole bunch of Republicants where things just gone mad. It is fun till You realise that one of this dudes will get a hand on nuke/predators button. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hiro Protagonist Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 I'm hoping Trump becomes President. Can't be any worse than some of the previous presidents the U.S. has had. Even if he's worse, it should be humorous to watch. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guard Dog Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 I'm hoping Trump becomes President. Can't be any worse than some of the previous presidents the U.S. has had. Even if he's worse, it should be humorous to watch. Best post of this thread. No matter who wins when all you have to choose from is idiots or criminals. If you are going to hell in a hand basket at least you can have some entertainment on the way. "While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before" Thomas Sowell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hiro Protagonist Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 When I think back to Al Gore and Bush. Gore was boring, Bush was funny. Americans need to make America funny again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meshugger Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 When I think back to Al Gore and Bush. Gore was boring, Bush was funny. Americans need to make America funny again. That's the thing, right? If Trump become president, all those late night shows and stand-up comedians will have endless of material. Endless, i tell you. "Some men see things as they are and say why?""I dream things that never were and say why not?"- George Bernard Shaw"Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man."- Friedrich Nietzsche "The amount of energy necessary to refute bull**** is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it." - Some guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hurlshort Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 You disdain Breitbart We really need some libtards putting up Huffington Post articles to help balance this place out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrath of Dagon Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 Be my guest. "Moral indignation is a standard strategy for endowing the idiot with dignity." Marshall McLuhan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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