A revolutionary approach to fixing our many, many Federal budgetary problems, instead of Blame-Storming?

[RX792P]

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) — 50 years* (1975 – present)

Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY-5) — 44 years (1981 – present)

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) — 40 years (1985 – present)

[RX792P]

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) — 50 years* (1975 – present)

Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY-5) — 44 years (1981 – present)

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) — 40 years (1985 – present)

[txdot-guy]

Originally Posted by Why_Yes_I_Do

Lemme see if'n I heard you correctly: You say that you don't understand the point of the OP, yet were able to draw a conclusion about it and share it here.
That about right?

If you do manage to read it and, dare I hope, comprehend the AI1 section, feel free to roll right into the AI2 section, because it might be interesting to know what minor tweaks would fix the items in AI2 section that have been in play for more than 20 years, seeing whereas I might be interested to know if you see any intersections with those facts and these three coincidental facts:

Well I hate to break it to you but in my opinion you’re not the best communicator one could hope for.

As I parse your original post it appears that you are saying.

1: Trump is not the problem Congress is the problem.
2: The proof that congress is dysfunctional is that they can’t manage to control our revenues or our spending.
3: The solution is REVOLUTION!

In response.
A: Trump is as much a symptom as a cause of our dysfunctional political system. He certainly is not helping.
B: The inability of our legislators to deal with our budget effectively is also a symptom of our political divide.
C: The only way to solve our fiscal problems is for both sides to stop lying to their constituents. That the only way to get our house in order is to both raise taxes across the board, Get rid of most if not all tax loopholes, and cut federal spending across the board by about 10%.

What exactly were you trying to say?

[Why_Yes_I_Do]

But did ya have to post it twice?

Originally Posted by RX792P

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) — 50 years* (1975 – present)

Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY-5) — 44 years (1981 – present)

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) — 40 years (1985 – present)

But did ya have to post it twice?

[Why_Yes_I_Do]

Originally Posted by txdot-guy

Well I hate to break it to you but in my opinion you’re not the best communicator one could hope for...

And your proffered solution, that addressed the problems posited, was what?!?

Originally Posted by txdot-guy

...3: The solution is REVOLUTION!...

Can you highlight the phrase "the solution" in the OP for me?
That would be great...

Originally Posted by txdot-guy

...A: Trump is as much a symptom as a cause of our dysfunctional political system...

So's yer say'n that Donald J Trump, who entered national politics in 2015, is "a cause" of our political disfunction going back some 100 years or more, as opposed to "a solution"?!? Approximately, how did you derive that solution? Regardless, say that to yourself a few hundred more times and report back with your findings...

Originally Posted by txdot-guy

...B: The inability of our legislators to deal with our budget effectively is also a symptom of our political divide...

I ask the simple question, as myself and others have pointed out: Given the longevity of many politicians in the system: Does the term term limits ring any bells in the belfry?

Originally Posted by txdot-guy

...C: The only way to solve our fiscal problems is for both sides to stop lying to their constituents. That the only way to get our house in order is to both raise taxes across the board, Get rid of most if not all tax loopholes, and cut federal spending across the board by about 10%...

So's yer say'n; the whacking of the pinata will continue until moral improves and that it is the only and exclusive way forward?!? Are you unaware of the equal sign (=) in the equation? I mean; couldn't spending be reduced and budget's balanced, without whacking the Bejesus outta the pinata, for example?!?

Originally Posted by txdot-guy

...What exactly were you trying to say?

Two things, in order:

1. The status quo in a No-Go.
2. Whatcha got? Besides whacking the pinata, of course.

Seems we got's to get back to the basics of communication.
I see it as: <hat tip to the good folks at Merriam Webster>

• a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior
• a technique for expressing ideas effectively (as in speech)

Doesn't your Pinata-Whack-a-Mania solution seem a bit dictatorial, even to you, Comrade?

[txdot-guy]

Three pages in and I still don’t understand the premise of this thread.

I give up.

[Why_Yes_I_Do]

Originally Posted by txdot-guy

...A: Trump is as much a symptom as a cause of our dysfunctional political system. He certainly is not helping...
C: The only way to solve our fiscal problems is for both sides to stop lying to their constituents. That the only way to get our house in order is to both raise taxes across the board, Get rid of most if not all tax loopholes, and cut federal spending across the board by about 10%.

What exactly were you trying to say?

2 things:
- Same-same thinking delivers same-same results
- Trump did NOT cause the budget carnage of the last 25+ years

But first: at least you considered a token cut of 10%. Though that was after you raised taxes 3 times.
- Raise taxes
- Boosting SS taxes (other post)
- Reduce tax loopholes

Those are all 3rd rail items, i.e. big and toxic. Besides the systemic Continuing Resolution conundrum of the OP, we also have the UseItOrLoseIt doom-loop. If you've dealt with anything government funded, you would know about it.

Basically, if you had a budget of $xMillion last year and you don't use it all, then in a normal world where you have an actual budget, it would likely be reduced by the amount not spent. Seeing whereas we don't do actual budgets, but continue spending at previous levels +some extra, we get into a loop.

Here's a 2 page example, courtesy of OpentheBooks.

...Here are some purchases we found in the DOD checkbook last September:

$6.1 million of lobster tail
$16.6 million of ribeye steak
$211.7 million of furniture
$36,000 for footrests
$16.3 million on cartons, crates, and toolboxes...

So the simple question is: Do you believe when they created the budget for DoD the last budget year (which would have been 2000) that they included $6.1 million for lobster tail and $16.6 million for ribeye steak or any of the others above?

BTW: This is September now, i.e. the end of the fiscal period and we still have UseItOrLoseIt and endless Continuing Resolutions since 2001.

[Why_Yes_I_Do]

Originally Posted by Why_Yes_I_Do

...Two points to ponder:
"Her husband's venture capital firm was no more than $1k in 2023. Now, she says it's worth up to $25 million. It specializes in structuring "legislation."

The year Ilhan entered the Congress-critter profession:
She had a negative Net Worth.

Remember the Demonicrats favored refrain: 'make corporations pay their fair share'? Apparently it is missing a word. In Ilhan's world, the full refrain is:

'make other corporations pay their fair share'.

The Internal Revenue Service charged that a company owned by Rep. Ilhan Omar's husband failed to pay taxes.

Omar, the far-left Democrat in Congress representing part of Minnesota's Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan region, repeatedly has advocated against America and for her home nation of Somalia, and allowed multiple scandals to develop about her personal life and multiple marriages, and for now is married to Tim Mynett, a campaign adviser for her.

Now the Free Beacon confirms it has obtained a copy of a tax lien against Mynett's company, EStreetCo, which accumulated "nearly $206,000 in unpaid income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes in 2021."

The paperwork was filed in Sonoma County, California, in January 2023.

--> "Omar, who introduced legislation in February to 'make corporations pay their fair share,' was married to Mynett when the IRS says the company failed to pay its taxes," the report said. <--

And in her 2021 financial disclosure, she claimed EStreetCo is a "creative agency" and said Mynett's share of the company was worth no more than $1,000.

Omar, among the most extreme members of Congress, has been in the news most recently in reports, including one from Fox, that charged her net worth "jumps to as much as $30M in new disclosure after claiming 'I am not a millionaire.'"

"The 2025 disclosure, first reported by the Washington Free Beacon, shows that Omar and her husband, Tim Mynett, have a net worth ranging from $6 million to $30 million, despite claims earlier this year that she was 'not a millionaire.' The vast majority of the wealth comes from Mynett's two companies, a winery in California and a venture capital firm," the report said.

Disclosures from the end of 2023 showed that those ownership stakes were valued at just $51,000, and they grew little in 2024.

The report noted, "Mynett's firm, Rose Lake Capital, is valued between $5 million and $25 million according to the 2025 disclosure, while the winery, eStCru Wines, is valued between $1 million and $5 million."

The Free Beacon explained EStreetCo provided advertising, design, and public relations services, and boasted a staff of at least 17 people, according to an archived version of its website.

Mynett's business partner, former DNC adviser Will Hailer, formed EStreetCo in October 2020, and business records show the pair owned the firm until its dissolution in June 2022, about seven months before the IRS filed the lien, the report said.

The report explained EStreetCo is not the same company as Mynett's former consulting operation, E Street Group, which was paid $2.9 million by Omar's campaign in the 2020 election.

A spokesman for the company said the IRS had been paid, even though there's no record of the lien being released, the report said.

This sort of Congress critter behavior does not serve our interests.
Apparently it does in Minnesota?!?

[Why_Yes_I_Do]

Wasn't it PT Barnum who said: there's a millionaire born every minute or was he referring to the suckers that vote for them?

Originally Posted by Why_Yes_I_Do

...This sort of Congress critter behavior does not serve our interests.
Apparently it does in Minnesota?!?

Let's see how some fair in sunny Massachusetts.

...From the New York Post:

Squad’s Ayanna Pressley reaps windfall as Boston landlord, joining Omar in millionaire club: ‘hypocrite’

Lefty Rep. Ayanna Pressley – who once camped out on the Capitol steps for taxpayer-funded rent relief — reaped a windfall as a Boston landlord last year, The Post has learned.

Pressley (D-Mass) and her ex-con hubby, management consultant Conan Harris raked in up to a staggering $350,000 in profit last year from a property sale and rental income that includes a decidedly capitalist pad on Martha’s Vineyard, Pressley’s 2024 annual financial disclosure reveals.

Financial disclosures show Pressley — who disclosed as much as $8 million in assets, the first time she’s declared over $1 million — now joins Squad comrade Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Mich.) in the millionaire’s club, a far cry from the working-class warrior image she tries to project.

“Ayanna Pressley is a hypocrite who preaches socialism while pocketing millions,” Republican National Committee spokeswoman Kiersten Pels told The Post.

“She tells everyday Americans they must be forced to defund the police and live with sky-high crime in their communities while indulging in private security. Pressley is a fraud – just like the rest of the Squad.”...

What she said then versus now:
Aug 10, 2020: America needs us to cancel rent.

Dec 1, 2020: Keeping families housed is a matter of public health. We must cancel rent, extend eviction and foreclosure moratoriums, provide rental assistance, and offer legal representation for those at risk of eviction. This is a public health emergency.

Personally, I don't much care if a Congress-critter's spouse is out there making bank, so long as they aren't raking it in based on inside info. Think the Pelosi's.

This sort of Congress critter behavior does not serve our interests.
Sure seems to serve their own though in Massachusetts?!?

[Why_Yes_I_Do]

Portlandia is counting on you Dickey, after having run out of other peoples money, leastwise.

Portland mayor begs residents to donate cash for city's failed homeless services after spending $724 million in 2024

...in 2024, the Portland metro area spent a whopping $724 million on homeless services, per KOIN. The money was supposed to go to safety, supportive housing and housing placement, and much also went to administrative costs to implement the changes.

43 percent of those funds came from a regional homeless services tax, and 14 percent came from federal tax dollars.

[biomed1]

Thread so far from the Original Topic - It can never return.

Thread Closed