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Is this really a drastic action? As others in this thread have pointed out, these programs are a single-digit percentage of the Federal budget. We could delete

Is this really a drastic action? As others in this thread have pointed out, these programs are a single-digit percentage of the Federal budget. We could delete these completely and still have a budget that is 90% the same as last year.

intended 2y ago
Wow. That’s a refreshing take on the reducing the corruption angle. If these programs are so small, why aren’t they going after the real grift? It’s too hard? Why the small, more relevant to citizens programs get cut first? Because its easy to avoid the military spending and the black box that represents.
- ahmeneeroe-v2 2y ago
  My guess is a few things. First, these are symbolic, it is very hard to concretely argue that these programs are good for Americans, since even proponents of these programs say it's about "soft power". Corollary to this is that cutting something like social security is seen as cutting benefits to Americans (ditto with Defense) Second, these programs are seen as funding "professional democrats" in a way that social security or defense are not. So this is also about cutting out their opponents support structures. If these programs are so small, why do you care so much?
  - magicalist 2y ago
    > If these programs are so small, why do you care so much? Because they help starving children? > First, these are symbolic Are we talking about how USAID worked against apartheid in South Africa now?
    - ahmeneeroe-v2 2y ago
      >starving children The people who put Trump in office want the US Gov to focus on American children
      - magicalist 2y ago
        > The people who put Trump in office want That's not remotely universally true, but that's also not what you asked about
      - evan_ 2y ago
        oh, so what are they doing to that end
- KennyBlanken 2y ago
  Military spending didn't explode the deficit. Bush and Trump tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations did. https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=trump+tax+cuts+defecit https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=trump+t...
- LastTrain 2y ago
  Because doing it all at once is not how debasement works.

intended 2y ago

Wow. That’s a refreshing take on the reducing the corruption angle. If these programs are so small, why aren’t they going after the real grift? It’s too hard? Why the small, more relevant to citizens programs get cut first? Because its easy to avoid the military spending and the black box that represents.

ahmeneeroe-v2 2y ago
My guess is a few things. First, these are symbolic, it is very hard to concretely argue that these programs are good for Americans, since even proponents of these programs say it's about "soft power". Corollary to this is that cutting something like social security is seen as cutting benefits to Americans (ditto with Defense) Second, these programs are seen as funding "professional democrats" in a way that social security or defense are not. So this is also about cutting out their opponents support structures. If these programs are so small, why do you care so much?
- magicalist 2y ago
  > If these programs are so small, why do you care so much? Because they help starving children? > First, these are symbolic Are we talking about how USAID worked against apartheid in South Africa now?
  - ahmeneeroe-v2 2y ago
    >starving children The people who put Trump in office want the US Gov to focus on American children
    - magicalist 2y ago
      > The people who put Trump in office want That's not remotely universally true, but that's also not what you asked about
    - evan_ 2y ago
      oh, so what are they doing to that end
KennyBlanken 2y ago
Military spending didn't explode the deficit. Bush and Trump tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations did. https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=trump+tax+cuts+defecit https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=trump+t...
LastTrain 2y ago
Because doing it all at once is not how debasement works.