4 ms·

Really makes you wonder, if the public could be as compelled by anything non-security related, what insane problems and projects we could take on with $8T USD.

FirmwareBurner 3y ago
Public healthcare?
- brink 3y ago
  Have you checked in on Canada lately? They're not doing that great. I'm not saying our system is perfect either; we need to get prices under control and incentivize actual competition in the healthcare industry.
  - wefarrell 3y ago
    No, the US system is far far far worse. Look at the changes in life expectancy the last few years in the two countries. Consider the number of nursing strikes recently and it's clear that the system is getting much worse.
  - rs999gti 3y ago
    > Have you checked in on Canada lately? They're not doing that great. The UK is not too hot either, third party private insurance is growing to make up for the NHS shortcomings
    - ceejayoz 3y ago
      I mean, that's what happens when you give politicians who want to privatize the NHS political power for nearly 15 straight years.
  - dmbche 3y ago
    What going wrong in canada lately? Edit0: As I thought, nothing really
    - gorwell 3y ago
      Their government has become totalitarian.
      - pauldenton 3y ago
        People who think it proper to shut the bank account of a Freedom convoyer while applauding a literal, actual Nazi in Parliament have neither the intelligence nor the moral credibility to regulate the information we consume.
    - willhslade 3y ago
      OK. So. There are a few large problems. I'll highlight the basics. Canadians are deeply in debt. Mostly mortgages. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/economy/article-household-debt-to-income-ratio-in-canada-rose-in-first-quarter/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/economy/article-hou... Causing: house prices and rent to be unaffordable for the median income person. As a result, I have several friends who are exploring leaving the country. Especially if you have children, they will likely never be able to afford a home nearby themselves without help. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/08/world/canada/canada-real-estate-market.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/08/world/canada/canada-real-... https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/rentals-august-1.6963839 https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/rentals-august-1.6963839 Inflation isn't stopping. It's most commonly reflected in the grocery prices. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/07/world/canada/loblaws-grocery-food-inflation.html https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/07/world/canada/loblaws-groc... As a result of the above, and the fact that if the Bank of Canada did not keep the prime rate in line with the USA (we have pretty much always raised our prime rates in step with the USA) = huge cuts into the disposable income / lifestyle of Canadians. Some people say we are already in a per capita recession. https://www.movesmartly.com/articles/why-the-bank-of-canada-probably-wont-hike-before-the-us-fed https://www.movesmartly.com/articles/why-the-bank-of-canada-... https://betterdwelling.com/canadian-households-get-left-behind-as-real-disposable-income-falls/ https://betterdwelling.com/canadian-households-get-left-behi... To compound this problem, as our working population ages, in order to keep our age dependency ratio healthy, we are allowing a million+ immigrants a year in. Please don't flame me, I don't have an opinion, this is a fact and a choice, and it has consequences. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/greenpage/2023/06/28/canada-welcomes-largest-number-of-immigrants-in-first-quarter-since-at-least-1972 https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/greenpa... Trudeau is many things, but a person who has ever needed to worry about money isn't one of them. Both Canada and Ontario (the most populous province) are deeply in debt. Alberta, who's oil wealth largely makes this country function, are making noises about separation, especially about their portion of the CPP, the Canadian Pension Plan that covers all Canadians. Alberta is kind of Canada's Texas (Conservative + oil wealthy) but they have far less influence in Federal politics than Texas does. AFAIK, I might be wrong about that. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-canada-federal-debt-inflation-economy/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-... https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-canada-interest-rates-government-debt/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-canada-inte... https://www.moneysense.ca/save/retirement/pensions/alberta-pension-plan/ https://www.moneysense.ca/save/retirement/pensions/alberta-p... All of these are leading towards a housing and / or financial crisis and / or currency crisis. Whichever comes first. There are tent cities and homeless in most large urban areas, and, as this is Canada, this winter will be brutal. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-canadas-housing-bubble-sliding-down-the-slippery-slope-of-hope/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-... Smaller problem: we have socialized medicine, but you likely can't get a doctor. Good luck getting a referral. We are exploring private practice charging fees. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/05/world/canada/canada-family-doctor-shortage.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/05/world/canada/canada-famil... https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/would-you-pay-300-a-year-for-quick-access-to-a-nurse-dealing-with-demand-ontario-doctors-get-creative-1.6257246 https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/would-you-pay-300-a-year-for-q... I know that the general opinion of Canada is that nothing ever happens, and to an extent that was largely true. I believe the next few years will be very difficult for Canadians, and, incredibly, given that Canadians use more energy per capita than the Americans, it will be a difficult transition to a lower energy use profile.
  - w1nst0nsm1th 3y ago
    It's so true that Cuba citizens, for a tiny fraction per capita of US health expenditure, enjoy 3 more years of life expectency than US citizens.
- wefarrell 3y ago
  And that's the irony. Covid's death toll in the US was a hundred times worse than 9/11 yet we still don't have federally mandated sick days. State provided insurance coverage was expanded but that expansion is ending over the next year, however 20 years after 9/11 the military and intelligence apparatus put in place is still intact.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
esotericimpl 3y ago
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter with a half-million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.
- reaperman 3y ago
  This is Eisenhowers “Chance for Peace”[0] speech, for those wondering. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chance_for_Peace_speech https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chance_for_Peace_speech
ceejayoz 3y ago
They don't have to be insane, either. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/child-poverty-increases-sharply-following-expiration-of-expanded-tax-credit https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/child-poverty-increases-sh... > In 2021, as the economy reeled from the pandemic, a one-year expansion of the child tax credit led to a historic 46 percent decline in the child poverty rate. But new census data shows a dramatic reversal with the rate of children in poverty skyrocketing in 2022. Experts say it’s due to the end of pandemic-era safety net policies and inflation. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/25/us/politics/child-tax-credit.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/25/us/politics/child-tax-cre... cites the cost of that expansion as $100B.
arcticbull 3y ago
We could have 80 high-speed trains between Bakersfield and Merced!
threeseed 3y ago
This point gets made a lot but is sadly naive. What's stopping the US from solving these incredible social, scientific etc problems isn't money. It's the will of the people in particular politicians. Many of whom are themselves taking money by people and companies who benefit from these problems being unsolved.
- ceejayoz 3y ago
  The comment you're calling naive is clearly aware of this fact, given the statement "if the public could be as compelled by anything non-security related".
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

FirmwareBurner 3y ago

Public healthcare?

brink 3y ago
Have you checked in on Canada lately? They're not doing that great. I'm not saying our system is perfect either; we need to get prices under control and incentivize actual competition in the healthcare industry.
- wefarrell 3y ago
  No, the US system is far far far worse. Look at the changes in life expectancy the last few years in the two countries. Consider the number of nursing strikes recently and it's clear that the system is getting much worse.
- rs999gti 3y ago
  > Have you checked in on Canada lately? They're not doing that great. The UK is not too hot either, third party private insurance is growing to make up for the NHS shortcomings
  - ceejayoz 3y ago
    I mean, that's what happens when you give politicians who want to privatize the NHS political power for nearly 15 straight years.
- dmbche 3y ago
  What going wrong in canada lately? Edit0: As I thought, nothing really
  - gorwell 3y ago
    Their government has become totalitarian.
    - pauldenton 3y ago
      People who think it proper to shut the bank account of a Freedom convoyer while applauding a literal, actual Nazi in Parliament have neither the intelligence nor the moral credibility to regulate the information we consume.
  - willhslade 3y ago
    OK. So. There are a few large problems. I'll highlight the basics. Canadians are deeply in debt. Mostly mortgages. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/economy/article-household-debt-to-income-ratio-in-canada-rose-in-first-quarter/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/economy/article-hou... Causing: house prices and rent to be unaffordable for the median income person. As a result, I have several friends who are exploring leaving the country. Especially if you have children, they will likely never be able to afford a home nearby themselves without help. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/08/world/canada/canada-real-estate-market.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/08/world/canada/canada-real-... https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/rentals-august-1.6963839 https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/rentals-august-1.6963839 Inflation isn't stopping. It's most commonly reflected in the grocery prices. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/07/world/canada/loblaws-grocery-food-inflation.html https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/07/world/canada/loblaws-groc... As a result of the above, and the fact that if the Bank of Canada did not keep the prime rate in line with the USA (we have pretty much always raised our prime rates in step with the USA) = huge cuts into the disposable income / lifestyle of Canadians. Some people say we are already in a per capita recession. https://www.movesmartly.com/articles/why-the-bank-of-canada-probably-wont-hike-before-the-us-fed https://www.movesmartly.com/articles/why-the-bank-of-canada-... https://betterdwelling.com/canadian-households-get-left-behind-as-real-disposable-income-falls/ https://betterdwelling.com/canadian-households-get-left-behi... To compound this problem, as our working population ages, in order to keep our age dependency ratio healthy, we are allowing a million+ immigrants a year in. Please don't flame me, I don't have an opinion, this is a fact and a choice, and it has consequences. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/greenpage/2023/06/28/canada-welcomes-largest-number-of-immigrants-in-first-quarter-since-at-least-1972 https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/greenpa... Trudeau is many things, but a person who has ever needed to worry about money isn't one of them. Both Canada and Ontario (the most populous province) are deeply in debt. Alberta, who's oil wealth largely makes this country function, are making noises about separation, especially about their portion of the CPP, the Canadian Pension Plan that covers all Canadians. Alberta is kind of Canada's Texas (Conservative + oil wealthy) but they have far less influence in Federal politics than Texas does. AFAIK, I might be wrong about that. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-canada-federal-debt-inflation-economy/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-... https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-canada-interest-rates-government-debt/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-canada-inte... https://www.moneysense.ca/save/retirement/pensions/alberta-pension-plan/ https://www.moneysense.ca/save/retirement/pensions/alberta-p... All of these are leading towards a housing and / or financial crisis and / or currency crisis. Whichever comes first. There are tent cities and homeless in most large urban areas, and, as this is Canada, this winter will be brutal. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-canadas-housing-bubble-sliding-down-the-slippery-slope-of-hope/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-... Smaller problem: we have socialized medicine, but you likely can't get a doctor. Good luck getting a referral. We are exploring private practice charging fees. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/05/world/canada/canada-family-doctor-shortage.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/05/world/canada/canada-famil... https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/would-you-pay-300-a-year-for-quick-access-to-a-nurse-dealing-with-demand-ontario-doctors-get-creative-1.6257246 https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/would-you-pay-300-a-year-for-q... I know that the general opinion of Canada is that nothing ever happens, and to an extent that was largely true. I believe the next few years will be very difficult for Canadians, and, incredibly, given that Canadians use more energy per capita than the Americans, it will be a difficult transition to a lower energy use profile.
- w1nst0nsm1th 3y ago
  It's so true that Cuba citizens, for a tiny fraction per capita of US health expenditure, enjoy 3 more years of life expectency than US citizens.
wefarrell 3y ago
And that's the irony. Covid's death toll in the US was a hundred times worse than 9/11 yet we still don't have federally mandated sick days. State provided insurance coverage was expanded but that expansion is ending over the next year, however 20 years after 9/11 the military and intelligence apparatus put in place is still intact.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

esotericimpl 3y ago

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter with a half-million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.

reaperman 3y ago
This is Eisenhowers “Chance for Peace”[0] speech, for those wondering. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chance_for_Peace_speech https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chance_for_Peace_speech

ceejayoz 3y ago

They don't have to be insane, either. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/child-poverty-increases-sharply-following-expiration-of-expanded-tax-credit https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/child-poverty-increases-sh... > In 2021, as the economy reeled from the pandemic, a one-year expansion of the child tax credit led to a historic 46 percent decline in the child poverty rate. But new census data shows a dramatic reversal with the rate of children in poverty skyrocketing in 2022. Experts say it’s due to the end of pandemic-era safety net policies and inflation. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/25/us/politics/child-tax-credit.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/25/us/politics/child-tax-cre... cites the cost of that expansion as $100B.

arcticbull 3y ago

We could have 80 high-speed trains between Bakersfield and Merced!

threeseed 3y ago

This point gets made a lot but is sadly naive. What's stopping the US from solving these incredible social, scientific etc problems isn't money. It's the will of the people in particular politicians. Many of whom are themselves taking money by people and companies who benefit from these problems being unsolved.

ceejayoz 3y ago
The comment you're calling naive is clearly aware of this fact, given the statement "if the public could be as compelled by anything non-security related".

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]