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> Why wouldn't the USDA pay... Maybe because there is an executive body hell-bent on the slashing expenditures regardless of any perceived benefit?

tomrod 1y ago
Perhaps their supporters should reconsider the burn-the-world-despite-who-it-hurts philosophy.
- zamalek 1y ago
  Hatred is a more powerful emotion than desperacy. Votes will continue to flow towards the man, even in the face of their very own livestock being decimated.
pfdietz 1y ago
It's not like the alternative worked very well.
- margalabargala 1y ago
  It clearly did, evidence: the exact situation we are discussing. Other evidence includes the worst measles outbreak of the last 30 years and the second largest three-month economic contraction since WWII only topped by the last iteration of this administration.
  - pfdietz 1y ago
    I mean, it's not like the alternative got out of control spending under control. We wouldn't be having Trump had that happened.
    - margalabargala 1y ago
      What were some specific problems caused by this spending? Seemed to work quite well. Up until our international image was destroyed two months ago, we were in a privileged position allowing deficit spending while the rest of the world absorbed the negatives. Trump certainly doesn't have a solution, but I'm also not convinced he has correctly identified a problem. Nation-state debt from the country whose currency is the de-facto international standard for the world, is categorically different than your mortgage or your credit card debt.
      - pfdietz 1y ago
        It's clearly unsustainable. Eventually it leads to a run on the dollar and inability to refinance the debt. At that point, the debt gets inflated away. I ask you: do you imagine it can continue forever, with debt reaching arbitrarily high multiples of GDP?
        margalabargala 1y ago
        I agree that the system can become unstable. Clearly; it's being made unstable currently. I disagree that it must become unstable, especially on a time frame relevant to anyone currently alive. Perhaps certain resources could be sheparded more sustainably than they have been but I do not think we were previously heading towards a consequence worse than we are currently experiencing. That argument applied to current administrative actions is like saying "we all die someday, therefore we should all commit suicide right now".
    - wredcoll 1y ago
      What on earth? Trump and other republicans are famous for increasing government spending while decreasing revenue, that's, like, their whole thing, isn't that why people vote for them?
      - pfdietz 1y ago
        That's true, and I expect Trump won't solve the problem either. He's a liar and a fraud, after all. But that doesn't mean the issue wasn't what got him in office.

tomrod 1y ago

Perhaps their supporters should reconsider the burn-the-world-despite-who-it-hurts philosophy.

zamalek 1y ago
Hatred is a more powerful emotion than desperacy. Votes will continue to flow towards the man, even in the face of their very own livestock being decimated.

pfdietz 1y ago

It's not like the alternative worked very well.

margalabargala 1y ago
It clearly did, evidence: the exact situation we are discussing. Other evidence includes the worst measles outbreak of the last 30 years and the second largest three-month economic contraction since WWII only topped by the last iteration of this administration.
- pfdietz 1y ago
  I mean, it's not like the alternative got out of control spending under control. We wouldn't be having Trump had that happened.
  - margalabargala 1y ago
    What were some specific problems caused by this spending? Seemed to work quite well. Up until our international image was destroyed two months ago, we were in a privileged position allowing deficit spending while the rest of the world absorbed the negatives. Trump certainly doesn't have a solution, but I'm also not convinced he has correctly identified a problem. Nation-state debt from the country whose currency is the de-facto international standard for the world, is categorically different than your mortgage or your credit card debt.
    - pfdietz 1y ago
      It's clearly unsustainable. Eventually it leads to a run on the dollar and inability to refinance the debt. At that point, the debt gets inflated away. I ask you: do you imagine it can continue forever, with debt reaching arbitrarily high multiples of GDP?
      - margalabargala 1y ago
        I agree that the system can become unstable. Clearly; it's being made unstable currently. I disagree that it must become unstable, especially on a time frame relevant to anyone currently alive. Perhaps certain resources could be sheparded more sustainably than they have been but I do not think we were previously heading towards a consequence worse than we are currently experiencing. That argument applied to current administrative actions is like saying "we all die someday, therefore we should all commit suicide right now".
  - wredcoll 1y ago
    What on earth? Trump and other republicans are famous for increasing government spending while decreasing revenue, that's, like, their whole thing, isn't that why people vote for them?
    - pfdietz 1y ago
      That's true, and I expect Trump won't solve the problem either. He's a liar and a fraud, after all. But that doesn't mean the issue wasn't what got him in office.