sxyuan

7 ms·

1.
by sxyuan 1mo ago
Executives aren't exactly the ones doing all the manufacturing. If you want to look at employment in manufacturing, the most you can say is that's it's stabilized after the first year of this administration: https:/&#x2
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by sxyuan 8mo ago
What looks unusual in this graph is that the line usually spikes rapidly during and after a recession. It's not clear what we're in right now, since recessions are declared after the fact, but the slow trend upwards without a decl
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by sxyuan 8mo ago
I get the frustration. I hope though that the opinion of the people who matter the most - i.e., your friends and family, and not random Internet strangers - will be based on who you are as a person, not on your identity as an American. Don&
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by sxyuan 8mo ago
Not downvoting, but boy is this off the mark. America was the only country to invoke Article 5 of NATO. America has benefited greatly from brain drain, what you call "funding the world's research". Pharma is something like th
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by sxyuan 1y ago
Russia already suspended their participation in Feb. 2023.
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by sxyuan 1y ago
If it's about gathering our thoughts, there's meditation. Or journaling. Or prayer. Some have even claimed that there is an all-powerful being listening to you on the other side with that last one. (One might even call it an intel
7.
by sxyuan 2y ago
A couple of interesting graphs: Personal spending is up relative to GDP: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1DWC7 Household net worth is up relative to GDP: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1
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by sxyuan 2y ago
It sounds like you have a fair bit of pride in the US, and a fair number of grievances as well. Goodness knows there's plenty of grievances to go around, and I can hardly fault you for having pride in your country and desiring to see b
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by sxyuan 2y ago
Your claims seem to be directly contradicted by the data here: https://www.irs.gov/statistics/irs-budget-and-workforce According to this, FTEs are down, and operating costs are only up ~30% compared to 2010. Average co
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by sxyuan 2y ago
> I think a better question is whether having a federal workforce of 4 million people managed by an unaccountable bureaucracy is in the best interests of any country. The word "unaccountable" gets thrown around a lot in these d
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by sxyuan 2y ago
Thanks for the response. I think we agree on a fair amount - in particular, I absolutely think Medicare and Medicaid can and should be made more efficient. I'm doubtful, however, that an administration that tries to antagonize its civi
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by sxyuan 2y ago
I think you're only half right. Yes, the nominal rate is far from the only thing that determines corporate income tax receipts. But in practice, what you see is that the effective tax rate has been steadily dropping. That is, corporati
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by sxyuan 2y ago
I don't have time to dig into the history of US corporate tax rates, but two things: 1. The effective corporate tax rate has been decreasing over time. Corporations are enormously profitable, and contributing a smaller and smaller shar
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by sxyuan 2y ago
I have the same concerns as you regarding the constitutionality of everything that's been going on. The thing is, the judicial branch interprets the constitution, and while the Supreme Court likes to maintain a pretense of cold imparti
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by sxyuan 2y ago
1. Agreed. 2/3. Then perhaps the US should elect representatives who will expand Medicare to more people. (Or go back in time and get the public option added back to Obamacare.) Unfortunately, instead we have an increasing number of pe
16.
by sxyuan 2y ago
See my third point. :) Article from 2022: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/08/upshot/medicare-advantage... In short, yes there's fraud, yes it's a problem, and the biggest offenders are probably
17.
by sxyuan 2y ago
1. I actually mostly agree with you (and the other reply that said something along the same lines). IMO, the debt situation isn't great, and it's getting worse. Bringing down spending as a percentage of GDP doesn't necessaril
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by sxyuan 2y ago
Thank you for responding. I'm glad we agreed in principle on #3. I'm afraid we'll have to disagree on the other points though: 1. The claim that spending / GDP is at WWII levels is simply wrong: please take a look at the
19.
by sxyuan 2y ago
I agree. I actually typed up a whole response to that post (which I vehemently disagreed with, but appreciated nonetheless) but by the time I hit submit it was already dead. Vouching wasn't enough to bring it back. I understand the tem
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by sxyuan 2y ago
Y'all, original poster here - please don't downvote or flag kill responses to this that are good-faith attempts to discuss the issue, even if the response seems misinformed to you. I don't think anyone will change their minds
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by sxyuan 2y ago
For those who want to have a substantive discussion on the federal budget and believe these cuts are justified, I have a few questions (putting aside questions of constitutionality for this thread): 1. There are claims that federal spending
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by sxyuan 2y ago
You really think that reducing IRS funding will reduce audits on the bottom 80%, and not the top 20%? If you're going to go around telling people they've been gaslit (using a straw man, I might add), you might want to check your o
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by sxyuan 2y ago
Thanks for the discussion, and for agreeing to not let partisanship get in the way. This will be my last reply in this thread, but I'll still check back and read your reply if you'd like to get in the last word. > I find it fun
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by sxyuan 2y ago
$8M is across the entire executive branch: https://www.usaspending.gov/search/?hash=9820ddd102202d0a46b... USAID only spent 24,000: https://www.usaspending.gov/search/?hash=7d6ee070efa2439992b...
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by sxyuan 2y ago
As I said in the beginning, "feel free to disagree", so thanks for taking me up on that. As for coming across as one-sided, I didn't feel the need to represent both sides - I don't think I can fairly represent your point
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by sxyuan 2y ago
Here's my attempt at contributing something meaningful to this discussion, since I'm tired of seeing the same kinds of responses to these threads over and over again. Feel free to disagree, the idea is to try to move the conversat
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by sxyuan 2y ago
Addendum: Friend, consider reading more substantial reporting on the allegations you led with. Here's a gift link that should get you past the paywall: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/02
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by sxyuan 2y ago
> Save the Children ... will advance the survival and the health of women, mothers, newborns, and children worldwide. > The entire premise of a limited republican government is based upon limiting the coercion of the state. > We sh
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by sxyuan 2y ago
I would appreciate sources for the first point, to know what precisely you're referring to. In any case, the idea that there is waste and fraud in the government is, I would think, common knowledge. Fighting this is a necessary, admira
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Afternoon of Day 7 of the Treasury Payments Crisis of 2025(crisesnotes.com)
8 points by sxyuan 2y ago|6 comments

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