Myself ,I liked the Boeing bird,but what do I know.I’ve studied and been a fan of aircraft for years.
Sometimes a ground pounder will give you a different view on what is an effective support aircraft,I asked a Colonel who was on the ground in the Gulf War what the best aircraft they had supporting them,he told me it was the “Tornado”.But a moneyed friend of mine whose family owns a private jet and he has a new stol 182,told me he watched them at airshows and wasnt impressed by thier performance.Like I say ,what do I know-watching a program on “Wings” on the “Tornado” all I can say is,if I was a European airforce,they would probaly be in my inventory(if the logistics wasnt a nightmare) but as far as ground support an" A-1" is hard to beat and if you have armour problems then call in the 'Warthogs", but these toys of war wouldnt be helping drive us " over the cliff" if we could sensibly do away with war-Kevin
Yeah, I saw it too. And I saw the show about the flyoff between the F-35 and the other competitor made by Boeing. I liked the competitor better myself.
That is one of my all-time favorite Nova specials.
I liked the one they ended up showing. The Boeing looked like a pregnant sparrow.
OK, I’ll bring this up again. How bad can it be? I’ll admit that I voted democratic but I am deeply disappointed at the total lack of budget controls being implemented. All we have seen so far is additional programs with little chance for success. I expected more of a Clinton era handle on the budget while everyone is interested in it. Over my over 30 years, I’ve had to chop 5-10% many years and was able to do it without dire results. A 2 5% reduction should not be a problem.
So the list is:
- Fewer training hours for the troops. Not a big deal.
- 424,000 fewer free AIDS tests being given. ? These can be borne by the clients.
- Loss of food aid to pregnant women. Maybe a problem but many of us never got any.
- Fema and fewer border agents. I’ve seen their budget and much can be trimmed. Fewer grants to local PDs, fewer radios bought, etc. and people need to have insurance on homes.
- 10,000 fewer Head Start students. This is a $4.3 billion program with questionable results.
- 11 day lay offs for FAA staff. These can be rotated to cause little problem.
- EPA color coding air quality forecasting? Come on now.
- State Department Security?
- IRS Layoffs.
- 14 day FBI layoffs.
- Parks closed or reduced hours. Doesn’t have to be draconian.
- Unemployment benefits reduced by 9.4%. Better than 100%.
- NASA cuts that help private companies into space. Huh?
So maybe I’m missing something but these are not dire and should be done as a matter of routine.
@Bing
You are right. None of these should be a problem for those not recieving the aid, aren’t the ones unemployed or know anyone who is. Of course with no empathy whatsoever, we could cut 100%. All of that is doable. We are the richest country in the world who can’t afford to help the needy but can afford to give Romney types tax breaks to 9% of the twenty million per year he maks which rivals even what the working poor pay in payroll taxes alone; you know, the ones in need.
Indeed, that is what this exercise is all about.
If you are disappointed in the present administration handling of the budget, remember that the deficit has been reduced every year from the Bush high of his last year in office. It’s a lot easier to “buy” a house (Bush) then it is to pay it off(Obama).
System needs fixed for unemployment. Go after the people who abuse the system, not the people paying into it.
Case in point, neighbor says his kid(roughly my age) is on unemployment, but has a job “under the table”, and makes more in 1 week with UE and sidejob than I do in 2 weeks at work at almost $19/hr. I’m fairly certain that if I called and complained to the UE office, they wouldn’t do squat about it.
Another neighbor just up the street is on disability in his mid 40s. Not sure what for, back maybe, but he’s had the cable company come out twice to unhook the tie-in he cobbled together to steal cable TV. Said they’d file charges if he done it again. He can get up on a ladder just fine, but is on disability…
Sequestration is the next big issue, unfortunately it seems a given by the news. There has never been a lack of warfare, but the new obstructionist motto is so cut off your nose to spite your face, I’ll be ok too bad you will not. The austerity measures in greece causing riots seems only a test case in how can we screw the people and support the major players.
The sequester is $85 billion in a 3,7 trillion dollar budget. Its a drop in the bucket. It’s not even a dent in the deficit. It only amounts to about 1/2 of what the annual interest on the debt is.
At this time one in eleven Americans of working age and not in school are classified as NOT CAPBLE OF WORKING!!! The are classified as DISABLED (not unemployed), and drawing compensation. What kind of a corrupt health care system allows doctors to classify healthy people who are able to work as “not able”. The Greeks are notorious for exploiting the system, but even there these leaches would be publicly shamed.
With the world’s most expensive health care system, there should be very few in that category.
The gaming of Social Security disability is quite rampant in Mayberry II. I have seen a woman who had her 5 children declared mentally retarded and her total benefit package is in excess of $50,000 plus a great many incidental freebies. There must be a dozen lawyers here with television ads regarding disability SS claims and you would think that the claims people would demand some solid documentation when dealing with all claims, especially the high profile attorneys.
Disability is SSI and thats even off the table, not for discussion but I agree-saw lots of it. We can even restore the 9.4% cut in unemployment if that makes everyone feel good. I’m a little troubled witht he WIC program because these are poor, single, pregnant woman and it is a nutrition program. OTOH, we have encouraged the behavior and grown the market.
All I’m saying is 2-3% is nothing to trim. So lets see some priorities and trimming someplace. Do something for us middle of the roaders that want a balanced budget. Do something. Overhaul the tax code, consolidate agencies, freeze hiring, freeze grants, etc. Do something. Tax has already been increased and we have seen less consumer spending this month so you can’t get any more there. Instead of flying around the country promoting Chicago gun laws to the rest of us, increasing EPA activity, increasing CAFE standards, increasing energy costs, increasing business expenses, and promoting nation-wide preschool, do something to streamline and reduce the negative federal impact on the economy. I just don’t think he gets it. I’m afraid this is another Jimmy Carter that just doesn’t understand that everyone making $9 an hour is not the answer.
In Minnesota the PCA is now trying to eliminate cash register tapes because they contain BPA. My gosh, is there no end? There are thousands of people sitting around coming up with all kinds of new things to be concerned about and the CEO needs to say NO. Once all the managers needed to come up with their list of 10% cuts. The need was 5% and he would pick from all the lists. Some got 10% and some got zero, but everybody had their list of priorities. How hard is it?
So the list is: 1. Fewer training hours for the troops. Not a big deal. 2. 424,000 fewer free AIDS tests being given. ? These can be borne by the clients. 3. Loss of food aid to pregnant women. Maybe a problem but many of us never got any. 4. Fema and fewer border agents. I've seen their budget and much can be trimmed. Fewer grants to local PDs, fewer radios bought, etc. and people need to have insurance on homes. 5. 10,000 fewer Head Start students. This is a $4.3 billion program with questionable results. 6. 11 day lay offs for FAA staff. These can be rotated to cause little problem. 7. EPA color coding air quality forecasting? Come on now. 8. State Department Security? 9. IRS Layoffs. 10. 14 day FBI layoffs. 11. Parks closed or reduced hours. Doesn't have to be draconian. 12. Unemployment benefits reduced by 9.4%. Better than 100%. 13. NASA cuts that help private companies into space. Huh?
And the 133 BILLION in OIL Subsidies every year is FAR more then all of those COMBINED.
Just a couple of examples of government waste and thinking.
The local news did a story the other night about cell phones for the homeless, low income, etc. where these phones can be had for 1-2 dollars per month. The gentleman at the homeless shelter said they receive 70-200 cell phone bills a DAY for subsidized service and the 1-2 dollars is not even being paid. Each bill costs the taxpayers 35 dollars minimum and totals about 125 million a year in OK alone.
One lady said she has had 8 phones in the last year and this one guy on camera was carrying a duffle bag full of them. He sells them on the street for 10-20 dollars a pop and flat out stated that he uses aliases or whatever it takes to get phones. Nothing is checked; they simply hand the phone over.
A local Corps oF Engineers lake at a state park not too far from me has seen a drastic drop in attendance over the last 15 years. It’s shallow and not really conducive to boating so the Corps has proposed spending tens of millions of dollars dredging the lake to make it suitable for boating.
Once dredged they’re considering closing it to the public, making boating a moot point. Go figure.
Believe me, I’m pro government but its not hard coming up with 10% that won’t impact the core services.
I don’t know how much was spent with local and DOT/DNR money extending a bike path in a tunnel under a state road so people wouldn’t have to cross the road. The last time it snowed, a guy I know who lives by the tunnel complained that they were out there clearing the bike path but his street still hadn’t been plowed. It was clear for anyone out for a walk or a bike but driving was still a problem.
One thing in the cell phone story that really grated on me was at the end when the reporter asked the guy walking around with a rucksack full of phones paid for by the taxpayers how he felt about that and he replied; not verbatim, but close.
“What do I care. It ain’t costing me nothing”.
Silly burearucratic do gooders,no to cellphones and crap like that and take exxon-mobil off the public teat how can anyone justify having record profits year after year and jumping the prices like crazy? Do away with the ethanol farce for petes sake(cant afford my gas and food bills as it is)just because alcohol works in Brazil doesnt mean it will work here.Corn is dependent on cheap petrochemicals,how in the blazes can we burn it and come out ahead? I guess its true,we eat too many cows,I’m very adverse to eating meat,but I found out the hardway that my particular metabolism wont let me get by on vegetables and work over a 10 hr day(kinda like the dilemma a vampire faces if it doesnt want to hurt people) tried soy,but I honestly think that stuff will kill you…
So what to do? Our procrustean petard just doesnt work for everyone,while we are basically the same,there are more differences then we as a nation care to admit,maybe thats why the constitution was written to abolish castes and one size doesnt fit all.But we shouldnt make it easy for a class of dependents to evolve that contribute nothing,my daughter showed me some late teenagers who were overweight( on facebook) at the beach,tatoos ,body piercings and these kids were at the beach and are in the process of reproducing and you guessed it on welfare.Gimme a break for petes sake.
After the state branded me a felon I have been unable to get a job after my current employer finally found a reason to fire me(you wouldnt believe the hypocripsy there-but I’m not into character assination right now,lets just say I didnt stand to be the whipping boy this time around) I could probaly get on disability due to my injuries ,but I would sooner work another 10 years,by that time I would either be dead or eligible to draw full SS benefits{which are not a lot,but I do live simply}'
But Folks let me say this when the singularity happens if the “untouchables” are still in existence by then,who will the “Herr Elite” rule over? will the lower classes even be permitteed to exist? will this wise benign entity even things out? or will we be fighting “skynet”? It gets harder to pull the plug all the time-{the water is heating} Any way as an aside,if I remember correctly the prison counsuler said to cheat a little bit on the resume,hmmmm.-Kevin
The GOP is in overdrive airing videos prophesying gloom and doom and the utter downfall of America caused by the cuts to Pentagon spending. The state of Mississippi has 4 regional airports that are of little use but the states Tea Party Republican leaders have finagled federal subsidies to enlarge, update, promote and subsidize them at a cost of many $millions. Without tax payer subsidies these airfields would have remained the quiet homes of crop dusters, small corporate planes and puddle jumpers. Now, with all the tax payer support, the airports are suddenly too big to fail. I must assume that the generosity of Republicans in my area is indicative of that party’s largess to their well positioned friends throughout the Red States.
And imagine this; Mississippi is the poorest state in the nation with the federal government sending the state $2 for ever $1 the state’s taxpayers send in yet the Tea Party Republicans here won’t make a 1 to 10 match with federal funds to support Medicaid… But the state passed an expenditure bill for $5 HUNDRED MILLION to update and/or refurbish the athletic fields at the universities.
Fraud and waste is rampant at every level of government, every state, and every politicial persuasion. The latest story is the FBI raiding the Scooter Store offices for Medicaid fraud. LIke a blind man couldn’t see that one years ago…
Fraud and waste is rampant at every level of government, every state, and every politicial persuasion.
I 100% agree.
But, if you look at waste as a percent of the total amounts, in welfare for example, it’s a very low percent on the part of the average personal recipient. In the Fed, the actual amount looks high because of the large total amount spent. And yet, the bilking of our govt. by corporate fraud in total monitary amounts is so much greater, we wonder why we waste our time on the amount wasted by the little guy in Medicaid and Medicare.
Keep in mind too, that the biggest complainers are the right wingers who offered to cut tax loop holes but never offered to suggest any and now call them tax hikes on the rich who pay 15% on capital gains where the percent is much lower then the 39% expected for income. They have never balanced a budget in the last 60 years and have increased deficits over previous liberal administrations while liberals, including Obama have decreased the deficit EVERY year in office from Bush’s last year.
Conservatives offer the biggest complaints on spending and national defense and the fewest actual solutions. History DOES NOT match their retoric.
“FBI raiding the Scooter Store offices for Medicaid fraud.” THIS IS CORPORATE organized fraud including what insurance companies, hospitals and MEDICARE part D… does…this is NOT the personal recipiant in actual amounts whom conservatives want to blame the most (the 47% argument) ! It’s millions compared to billions of waste. Start with the billions !!! You want to make Medicare solvent for the next twenty tears…repeal and replace Medicare part D.
I'm a little troubled witht he WIC program because these are poor, single, pregnant woman and it is a nutrition program. OTOH, we have encouraged the behavior and grown the market.
the WIC system is abused just as much. They give them a list of what they can and cannot buy using it, but too many buy whatever. 10 years ago(jeez has it really been that long?) when I worked at a grocery store, there would be people trying to buy Coco Pebbles or Fruit Loops on WIC. The only pre-sweetened cereal(at the time) one could buy was Frosted MiniWheats.
I really hated the first few days of the month because you’d be getting people buying steaks, shrimp, and other high dollar foods and were eating better than most well-off people would. Then they would take their cart out and load up their BMW or Caddy with their welfare goods. And that’s if they didn’t try to walk the big cart load of stuff home with them if they didn’t have a car. At the time I said it was my life’s goal to buy a BMW, quit my job and live on welfare the rest of my life.
Now, when I get my house paid off, I WILL be able to afford a BMW, but I won’t quit my job
The “feast or famine” culture is relatively common among the poor in this country and current entitlement programs exacerbate the problem. But then the entitlement programs exacerbated the illegitimate birth rate and has made marriage somewhat inconsequential to all but the gay and lesbian communities.
“Welfare Cadillac” is a derogatory stereotype that throws mud over the convoluted situation of “tote the note” car dealerships, EIC checks and other entitlements for single mothers. The first quarter of each year money is falling out of trees for used car dealerships. But, of course, those car dealers are Tea Party conservatives who want taxes cut and federal spending cut to the bone… Just not to the EIC bone.