Law school seems like centuries ago now.

[BCCHoosier]

My bold and italics added to your post. The non sequitur in the whole "bring jobs back to America!" mantra that both parties espouse (and have espoused for the last 30 years or so) is that Americans don't want to fill those jobs unless they get paid - and that wage scale will make today's inflation look like a rounding error by comparison.

Literally a rounding error.

Never mind the fact that there's a substantial labor shortage in general, especially in skilled labor, so the manufacturing plants bringing back all those jobs would need to go after the employees of existing US-based manufacturers - and driving up wages in general, which drives up prices for finished goods, which is ..... ta da ..... inflation!

You know, like Amazon's been doing for the last decade or so.

Yes, I 100 percent agree with everything you said. The simple fact is all this "stuff" is complicated. For every action there is a reaction. 30 trillion in debt doesn't make it any easier to solve.

 

[mcmurtry66]

So, McM, are you gonna take on social security and Medicare?

No Sope I think social security is impt. And I believe has bipartisan support. I'd abolish the maximum taxable wage

 

[mcmurtry66]

My bold and italics added to your post. The non sequitur in the whole "bring jobs back to America!" mantra that both parties espouse (and have espoused for the last 30 years or so) is that Americans don't want to fill those jobs unless they get paid - and that wage scale will make today's inflation look like a rounding error by comparison.

Literally a rounding error.

Never mind the fact that there's a substantial labor shortage in general, especially in skilled labor, so the manufacturing plants bringing back all those jobs would need to go after the employees of existing US-based manufacturers - and driving up wages in general, which drives up prices for finished goods, which is ..... ta da ..... inflation!

You know, like Amazon's been doing for the last decade or so.

Yes. Exactly.

 

[Univee2]

So, McM, are you gonna take on social security and Medicare?

Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no.

You can’t just stealthily come back to town and then just duck out.

That’s beyond the pale and incurs the wrath of the Kangaroo Court.

$7.50 fine. And Freddie Freeman is gonna put one through your family room window.

 

[Sope Creek]

Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no.

You can’t just stealthily come back to town and then just duck out.

That’s beyond the pale and incurs the wrath of the Kangaroo Court.

$7.50 fine. And Freddie Freeman is gonna put one through your family room window.

We have a saying down here that fits this circumstance: The hell you say.

You ain't even a Kangaroo. Besides I have no address to send the check to, and no one to write the check out to. You? Hail nah.

And who fines you? I propose for the board to consider a $25 fine for you for fining me . . . after you asked me to provide you a referral to a DC lawyer. Oh, and I have the emails to prove it.

 

[DANC]

This is a pet peeve. It’s not the size of government. We should demand effective government. We never talk about private companies being too big. If the company works and does good things, we don’t care. The same should be true of government. Cutting head cut just to do so is incredibly stupid and often undermines the agencies ability to do it’s core mission.

I don't know what planet you're living on - people bitch about companies being too big all the time.

WTF are you talking about?

 

[Univee2]

We have a saying down here that fits this circumstance: The hell you say.

You ain't even a Kangaroo. Besides I have no address to send the check to, and no one to write the check out to. You? Hail nah.

And who fines you? I propose for the board to consider a $25 fine for you for fining me . . . after you asked me to provide you a referral to a DC lawyer. Oh, and I have the emails to prove it.

And we have another one “down here.” Bless your heart.

The Court has fined me. You could look it up.

Referrals and DC lawyers and emails, oh my.

 

[Sope Creek]

No Sope I think social security is impt. And I believe has bipartisan support. I'd abolish the maximum taxable wage

Well done. Based on your response, I have two follow up questions:

(1) You didn't mention Medicare. Is that part of your support for social security? Does your proposal to abolish the maximum taxable wage apply to Medicare, too?

(2) If not social security and Medicare, what safety nets are you referring to? They're the bulk of federal spending.

One of my daughters-in-law resents any taxes, but particularly the payroll taxes, coming out of her paycheck. She says "that's MY money." (She's a Trumper, of course.) I think there's a chance that social security and Medicare go away with the following generations anyway. When I asked who I'd move in with once social security is gone, I got no takers . . . surprise, surprise.

BTW, I am privy to some interesting data regarding Medicare. A surgery that would have cost over $80,000 in hospital charges cost only $5,000 actually charged to Medicare. The surgeon's charge of $15,000 was reduced to $6,000. The guy who had the surgery could pay any of these amounts, but easily could have afforded the $11,000 total charges for the surgery (which with the anesthesiologist amounted to about $14,500). I'm not averse to means-testing Medicare so long as the amounts are what the government pays and not the 16 times that governmental charge.

 

[Sope Creek]

Edited to delete duplicate post.

 

[Sope Creek]

And we have another one “down here.” Bless your heart.

The Court has fined me. You could look it up.

Referrals and DC lawyers and emails, oh my.

https://c.tenor.com/-cLry2Vz3JUAAAAC/cheshire-cat.gif

 

[mcmurtry66]

Well done. Based on your response, I have two follow up questions:

(1) You didn't mention Medicare. Is that part of your support for social security? Does your proposal to abolish the maximum taxable wage apply to Medicare, too?

(2) If not social security and Medicare, what safety nets are you referring to? They're the bulk of federal spending.

One of my daughters-in-law resents any taxes, but particularly the payroll taxes, coming out of her paycheck. She says "that's MY money." (She's a Trumper, of course.) I think there's a chance that social security and Medicare go away with the following generations anyway. When I asked who I'd move in with once social security is gone, I got no takers . . . surprise, surprise.

BTW, I am privy to some interesting data regarding Medicare. A surgery that would have cost over $80,000 in hospital charges cost only $5,000 actually charged to Medicare. The surgeon's charge of $15,000 was reduced to $6,000. The guy who had the surgery could pay any of these amounts, but easily could have afforded the $11,000 total charges for the surgery (which with the anesthesiologist amounted to aout $14,500). I'm not averse to means-testing Medicare so long as the amounts are what the government pays and not the 16 times that retail charge.

Sorry I intended to include Medicare as well. Abolish the max and it will obviously raise rev for Medicare. I'd prefer abolishing to raising retirement age. There's something unfair about continuing to raise retirement age imo

And you are spot on re Medicare. I have a wealth of experience in that area. It was aggravating getting Medicare clients bc you knew before you settled the case you'd have to get a lien settlement and release from CMS but as you said the providers reimbursement rates from Medicare was a fraction of that of self pay or private carriers. Same for Medicaid. Cost of service needs more attention.

As for the other safety net programs let's shelve that for another day. Too much for quick hit posts. But yes means testing, time limits, and aggressive outcomes based analysis are always vital. I'd like to see more alternative programs too. Just by way of example give a guy $3k worth of transportation vouchers doesn't help much in most cities. Give a guy $3k to buy a car the entire city's employment opps just opened up. There's a big difference morally between end of life care and that which creates a dependency amongst our youth.

Anyway hope you are feeling well! Atlanta is a World Cup City next round. Exciting stuff

 

[DANC]

Sorry I intended to include Medicare as well. Abolish the max and it will obviously raise rev for Medicare. I'd prefer abolishing to raising retirement age.

And you are spot on re Medicare. I have a wealth of experience in that area. It was aggravating getting Medicare clients bc you knew before you settled the case you'd have to get a lien settlement and release from CMS but as you said the providers reimbursement rates from Medicare was a fraction of that of self pay or private carriers. Same for Medicaid. Cost of service needs more attention.

As for the other safety net programs let's shelve that for another day. Too much for quick hit posts. But yes means testing, time limits, and aggressive outcomes based analysis are always vital. I'd like to see more alternative programs too. Just by way of example give a guy $3k worth of transportation vouchers doesn't help much in most cities. Give a guy $3k to buy a car the entire city's employment opps just opened up. There's a big difference morally between end of life care and that which creates a dependency amongst our youth.

Anyway hope you are feeling well! Atlanta is a World Cup City next round. Exciting stuffAt

Atlanta is hosting a World Cup round with Georgia's draconian election laws? Jim Crow Two Point Oh! C'mon, man!

 

[mcmurtry66]

Atlanta is hosting a World Cup round with Georgia's draconian election laws? Jim Crow Two Point Oh! C'mon, man!

City's a soccer hotbed

 

[Sope Creek]

As for the other safety net programs let's shelve that for another day. Too much for quick hit posts.

MmmK. But I'm interested in what you mean by the other safety net programs. The amounts that go to those have to be miniscule compared to SS and Medicare. So I'm wondering why you have such anger about them.

Anyway hope you are feeling well! Atlanta is a World Cup City next round. Exciting stuff

We're good, thank you for the best wishes.

Blasphemy: I'm more invested in getting Miles Robinson and Andrew Gutman back for AU's defense than I am in the World Cup coming here. 🤷‍♂️

 

[DANC]

City's a soccer hotbed

Yeah, I know. Just making fun of the MLB All-Star game bruhaha.

 

[DANC]

MmmK. But I'm interested in what you mean by the other safety net programs. The amounts that go to those have to be miniscule compared to SS and Medicare. So I'm wondering why you have such anger about them.

We're good, thank you for the best wishes.

Blasphemy: I'm more invested in getting Miles Robinson and Andrew Gutman back for AU's defense than I am in the World Cup coming here. 🤷‍♂️

What other safety net programs other than SS and Medicare are funded by the recipients?

 

[Sope Creek]

Atlanta is hosting a World Cup round with Georgia's draconian election laws? Jim Crow Two Point Oh! C'mon, man!

Let me tell you a true story. Here in Georgia one of the suburban county's party leadership wanted to stick it to the county's other party, so they asked the legislature for authority to put creation of 4 new cities on a referendum ballot. The legislature granted their wishes, and so we had the creation of 3 new cities on the May ballot. (The fourth will be on the November ballot.) I'll let you guess which party controls the legislature here.

The backers of the cityhood initiatives pitched the initiatives as means to preserve the rural character of the county - in other words, to preserve the rural character of the county, we had to create three new cities to wrest control over zoning decisions from the existing county council.

Well, the voters of the suburban county rejected the cityhood initiatives. Why? (1) Voters can be ornery; (2) Voters saw the cityhood initiatives as "nice-to-haves" rather than as necessary changes to the legal structure of the county; (3) Voters want to have less government, not more, and; (4) Voters didn't believe the argument that more government wouldn't cause taxes to increase.

I think voters can be very forgiving of overreach. But push too far, and there's a risk of losing their support for good. Ask the DNC.

Has the GOP pushed too far already? Is the voting public about to teach the GOP about the law of unintended consequences, the way they taught the DNC that?

I have the impression that the answers to these questions will dominate politics for the next couple of decades.

 

[DANC]

Let me tell you a true story. Here in Georgia one of the suburban county's party leadership wanted to stick it to the county's other party, so they asked the legislature for authority to put creation of 4 new cities on a referendum ballot. The legislature granted their wishes, and so we had the creation of 3 new cities on the May ballot. (The fourth will be on the November ballot.) I'll let you guess which party controls the legislature here.

The backers of the cityhood initiatives pitched the initiatives as means to preserve the rural character of the county - in other words, to preserve the rural character of the county, we had to create three new cities to wrest control over zoning decisions from the existing county council.

Well, the voters of the suburban county rejected the cityhood initiatives. Why? (1) Voters can be ornery; (2) Voters saw the cityhood initiatives as "nice-to-haves" rather than as necessary changes to the legal structure of the county; (3) Voters want to have less government, not more.

I think voters can be very forgiving of overreach. But push too far, and there's a risk of losing their support for good. Ask the DNC.

Has the GOP pushed too far already? Is the voting public about to teach the GOP about the law of unintended consequences, the way they taught the DNC that?

I have the impression that the answers to these questions will dominate politics for the next couple of decades.

It's not shocking that political parties plot and scheme for their political advantage. Obviously.

My post was trying to point out that the Georgia election laws must have not been so bad that it triggered a cancellation of a WC match like it did the MLB All-Star game.

They're not being very consistent, imo.

 

[Sope Creek]

It's not shocking that political parties plot and scheme for their political advantage. Obviously.

My post was trying to point out that the Georgia election laws must have not been so bad that it triggered a cancellation of a WC match like it did the MLB All-Star game.

They're not being very consistent, imo.

Swoosh.

 

[DANC]

Swoosh.

Back atcha

 

[Sope Creek]

MmmK. But I'm interested in what you mean by the other safety net programs. The amounts that go to those have to be miniscule compared to SS and Medicare. So I'm wondering why you have such anger about them.

We're good, thank you for the best wishes.

Blasphemy: I'm more invested in getting Miles Robinson and Andrew Gutman back for AU's defense than I am in the World Cup coming here. 🤷‍♂️

OK, it's another day, and you're still on the hook to explain what safety net programs you object to if not social security and/or Medicare.

I really am interested in what those programs are. Build Back Better? PPP? Unemployment insurance?

What?

 

[twenty02]

What other safety net programs other than SS and Medicare are funded by the recipients?

The next largest "safety net" program is unemployment insurance.

 

[mcmurtry66]

OK, it's another day, and you're still on the hook to explain what safety net programs you object to if not social security and/or Medicare.

I really am interested in what those programs are. Build Back Better? PPP? Unemployment insurance?

What?

I'm sorry Sope I just don't have time. This is a question too involved for the twitter nature I post in on here.

Reader's digest the net amounts to about 10 percent of the budget. Maybe slightly less. It's significant. And it needs imo to be completely overhauled. And mind you it has been a success-ish but it's data tracking is woefully outdated, how it tracks people is hardly useful, the administrative burdens are onerous and the backlogs are in keeping with same, what you get and how fast you get it is often a product of where you live more than eligibility requirements/delays, and I'd like to see more cash based programs replace existing. While all the free cheese contributed to inflation it also had a significant and rapid impact on the number of poor pulled out of poverty.

 

[DANC]

The next largest "safety net" program is unemployment insurance.

Funded by employers.