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Hosting a large number of top universities which conduct research attracts the best and brightest minds from around the world, many of whom stay in the US after
by insane_dreamer 2y ago
Hosting a large number of top universities which conduct research attracts the best and brightest minds from around the world, many of whom stay in the US after doing their PhD, and is a significant factor in what makes the US the biggest economy in the world.
Even if you subscribe to an America First policy, tearing down university research labs (which is the knock-on effect of cuts at the NIH, NSF, etc.) is one of the worst things you could do.
Want to actually cut gov spending? Look no further than the military budget (which the GOP Congress is proposing to _increase_, not decrease).
(That being said, yes, there is waste at universities. I'm all for some reform, but this is not reform, it's destruction.)
- umvi 2y agoDefense, social security, Medicaid should all have high scrutiny, but that would be unpopular so neither party will touch those; thus, serious deficit reduction won't happen because doing so requires making unpopular decisions
- insane_dreamer 2y agodefense, yes social security and medicaid, absolutely not (scrutiny, fine; cuts, no)
- umvi 2y agosocial security/labor and medicaid/health are the biggest pieces of the pie in terms of budget though. You could cut defense to zero and still have a deficit > ~1T. Clearly they are not sustainable in their current state.
- disqard 2y agoVia Occam's Razor, the simplest explanation is that this is a foreign agent demolishing US democracy from within. It makes not an iota of difference whether somebody "was chosen by the people" (the Felon), or not (the Husk). We can all plainly see what's going on, and there isn't any need to steelman it, or contort ourselves to deduce what pretzel logic might cause Felon/Husk to choose these particular actions.
- solatic 2y agoHegseth is planning 8% cuts to the DoD per year for the next five years: https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2025/02/21/cuts-to-staff-budget-will-boost-military-strength-hegseth-says/ https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2025/02...
- insane_dreamer 2y agoHearth doesn’t set the defense budget, Congress does. His cuts are to drop spending in some Areas and increase it in others like border security.