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Here in the US the old people elected a government which is set to gut the services they, the old people, depend on. Yesterday it was announced that the SSA, th

Here in the US the old people elected a government which is set to gut the services they, the old people, depend on. Yesterday it was announced that the SSA, the Social Security Administration, which is the main support in retirement of much of the country, will eliminate 50% of its support staff and locations. The old people, who generally only trust propaganda outfits, will be told that someone else did this to them. They will get angry and elect more people who will cut their services. People may think they're voting to keep things the same, but in practice they vote for people who are tearing down everything without checking to see what those things are supposed to do, whether they should be doing those things, or whether they are doing them. We'll see how this works out in the rest of the world.

koakuma-chan 2y ago
> people who are tearing down everything without checking to see what those things are supposed to do, whether they should be doing those things, or whether they are doing them. From what they've torn down already, were there consequences? Genuinely interested.
- ryandrake 2y ago
  I'm sure we'll find out, in time. When you shut down an airplane's engine, it can glide for a long time before it crashes.
  - koakuma-chan 2y ago
    It's just, I would be happy to join the anti-Trump crowd, but I don't see any substantial evidence that he has done something bad.
    - DFHippie 2y ago
      Given this statement > I don't see any substantial evidence that he has done something bad and the ubiquity and frequency of stories regarding what Trump has done I fine this statement > I would be happy to join the anti-Trump crowd vanishingly improbable. The list of things he has done which I find bad is too vast to enumerate in a little comment box, but I'm guessing, given the first statement above, that you applaud them. So here are some things that might move you, assuming you're pro science and technology: he has frozen research grants. I have a friend who lost his postdoc because the funding was cut. There was no evaluation of merit -- he is a chemistry Ph.D. -- just a cut. They have indefinitely suspended the group that prepares the next season's flu shot. They have suspended the program working on an mRNA bird flu vaccine, the thing that is primarily responsible for egg prices. There are many, many more things just in that vein which are easily discoverable. I'll leave the rest to you.

koakuma-chan 2y ago

> people who are tearing down everything without checking to see what those things are supposed to do, whether they should be doing those things, or whether they are doing them. From what they've torn down already, were there consequences? Genuinely interested.

ryandrake 2y ago
I'm sure we'll find out, in time. When you shut down an airplane's engine, it can glide for a long time before it crashes.
- koakuma-chan 2y ago
  It's just, I would be happy to join the anti-Trump crowd, but I don't see any substantial evidence that he has done something bad.
  - DFHippie 2y ago
    Given this statement > I don't see any substantial evidence that he has done something bad and the ubiquity and frequency of stories regarding what Trump has done I fine this statement > I would be happy to join the anti-Trump crowd vanishingly improbable. The list of things he has done which I find bad is too vast to enumerate in a little comment box, but I'm guessing, given the first statement above, that you applaud them. So here are some things that might move you, assuming you're pro science and technology: he has frozen research grants. I have a friend who lost his postdoc because the funding was cut. There was no evaluation of merit -- he is a chemistry Ph.D. -- just a cut. They have indefinitely suspended the group that prepares the next season's flu shot. They have suspended the program working on an mRNA bird flu vaccine, the thing that is primarily responsible for egg prices. There are many, many more things just in that vein which are easily discoverable. I'll leave the rest to you.