What do you think about Trump's proposed budget cuts or the American First Policy choices?

@Oconnor:

They have things set so that we have no clue what they are really doing with our money.

@Jackjjacksonjr: Yeah, well, that's probably true of either side during any time in history.

I wonder if that's where it all starts. A certain mistrust in your government whether you like it or not; eventually it can grow into infighting and divisiveness. Suddenly all the cats are fighting, leaving the henhouse wide open for the foxes to do what they want.

@Oconnor:

There is that and also the bill of goods they've all served us that two thirds of the money is prespent for "entitlements" and debt service. Add in a few more big ticket items and there is supposedly very little left for "discretionary" spending. We've been sold out.

@windinhishair: @Invisible:

Wouldn't it help if wingbag stopped with the hairspray use?

@Jackjjacksonjr: Not as much as your methane emissions.

@windinhishair: @Invisible:

Hahahaha. Wingbag responds to his accurate name. Trained like a dawggggg 😂

@MarsSword:
[quote]I would rather pay less over time and be able to get the medical care I need when I get seriously hurt or sick than run the risk of being bankrupted by something outside of my control.[/quote]
And I would rather pay an expected value that is far less in exchange for the variance. Maybe it's just because I have an ounce of self control and am capable of saving up my income.

@Invisible: Do not be so quick to judge others abilities. Sometimes it is not through ones own misdoing that one is in a tough place. I also am very capable of managing my finances.

I would like to pay less as well.

@Invisible: Well you really need to express yourself more clearly, because I have no idea who you think should bear the costs of the sick and poor if we're not just letting them die. If it's insurance companies, then all of their members are bearing that responsibility. If it's the government, then all taxpayers are bearing that responsibility. If it's nobody, then we're either shafting the healthcare providers, or letting the patients die.

And wow...a 30 second guide to an incredibly complex financial paradigm...must be all there is know about it. XD

And yeah MarsSword, the ACA failed to address the real problem, sky high cost of care and supplies. We can try redistributing the burden all we want, we pay way more for medicine than other nations do and that's the heart of the issue.

Another bonus detail. You can expect to pay twice as much to deliver a baby in the US as any other nation. But you can also expect one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the developed world, with countries like Hungary, Iran, and Bahrain having lower maternal mortality rates. We did beat Grenada though. In fact, defying global trends of decreased maternal mortality, the US has somehow managed to increase it since the 1990s.

@MarsSword: i have actual time in the discipline of history at a professional level. I wanted this nonsense exchange over before you did!

It is a commonly held myth that we were founded as a Christian nation.
All I ask is that you read before you post uninformed posts.

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@Nonsequitur: Founded to be a secular nation, with a majority Christian population, and founded upon Judeo-christian morality.

@MarsSword: let it go

I don't know where it would impact a charity (?) like Meals on Wheels. It looks like Trump is planning on increasing spending for Veteran Affairs, so that might counteract that. I certainly think we should take care of the elderly, the articles I have read have not talked about cutting such spending or school spending.

Are you willing to accept the cost of walking away from the pressured responsibility? Will you support the choices of your leaders making such decisions in the face of much ridicule.

I'm willing to accept that our habit of destabilizing countries we dont like should come to an end.. looking at the outcome of the Arab spring should make any sane person take pause..

@onestarrynight: I agree with you. The CIA and behind the scenes stuff the US does doesn't seem to work very well for the most part. However, we also only hear about it when it fails. When it works it goes unnoticed. So it is really hard to know the extent and the breadth of influence and how much is actually stabilized.

@Xuan12: I see, that is unfortunate. Are those services not mostly managed by the local government?

Social security is a tough issues, because while we all want the benefit when we are stuck and down, and certainly for the elderly, it is very expensive and we all have this fear of people freeloading on it and costing us unnecessarily.

@MarsSword: Managed by the local government, sure, but county of less than 10,000 cattle ranchers can't pay enough taxes to buy everything we need. An ambulance costs about $150,000 BEFORE it's equipped, and need to be replaced about every 5 years or so, IF nothing happens to it. Figure out the non-working elderly, which we have a lot of, the children, the disabled, and the seasonal farmhands who make maybe $10 and hour, and where would the tax burden fall? That's over $30K a year we need for one necessary item, falling onto a tax base of about 3000 people. So figure that we need two ambulances, 4 paramedics, about 10 EMTs, all the medical supplies and equipment of course, a repair and maintenance, a garage to keep it in, a radio system to dispatch and communicate, oh, dispatchers of course, a hospital to bring the sick and injured back to, a police force that also needs equipment, a fire department too, and our roads, our sewer system, etc....how can such a small community working mostly in agriculture tax itself enough to pay for all this on it's own? About 60% of the budget we use for these neccessitites come in as grants or aid from other sources.

@Xuan12: Yes, the federal government has to support the smaller communities. I agree.

You want to see the USA removed from the UN? You realize that it is currently the single biggest funder of the UN right? And that it carries the brunt of the of peacekeeping missions and cost?

I would also like to see the US pull out of the middle east. Though I think people should realize that the result will be sever generations of war and changing borders and perhaps the creation of some new countries and the annexation of others. The refugee crisis would continue to rise and human rights would be violated in an extreme way. Of course this is just my opinion and rationalization, so it up for debate.

Excellent idea!

@Yulianna: Oh, there is plenty of reason for the US to be investing in the UN and the World Bank. Both work for global stabilization, the protection of human rights, and economic development. All of which are noble and worthy causes. However, the US has been heavily invested in all of them for a long time. Their success has been limited and the US has faced a lot of ridicule domestically and abroad for their involvement. Also other countries are depending on the US to fund and solve their issues. These are expenses that the US honestly cannot afford to pay until it solves its troubles domestically. The US debt is getting out of control. At some point it becomes irresponsible to keep spending money you do not have.

We are not talking about a total withdraw of US forces and influence here. We are talking about a gradual decrease over the next few years. It might be high time to see that.

Actually the study of climate change is quite a lot more limited than many other fields. Manly by the scope and relatively short time window we have been able to track it with any sense of accuracy. Also because we know for a fact that the world has experienced drastic and gradual climate change many times over the course of its existences without any aid from mankind. Also whether or not climate change is at all preventable and the effects that it will have are greatly debated. The US produces a lot of carbon, mostly because almost everyone has electricity and a car. The systems the US uses are actually the most efficient to date and are still being improved. There is a lot of regulation already in place. Don't get me wrong, I love the planet, the wild and breathing fresh air. I am totally against pollution and want to limit it as much as possible. But we must also look at the cost/benefit pay of.

Again I am not talking about America turning to policy of Isolation, nobody is. We are talking about a decrease on American activity on the global platform. And policy decisions that focus moreso on the needs of americans. I would love to see more resources available for the millions of veterans that are suffering from PTSD and other ailments from fighting other people's wars abroad. I would love to see more development in the inners cities and the reduction of racial divide through education and integration programs.

@MarsSword: america invests in UN and World Bank not because they support noble causes but because it is in america's political and commercial interests to do so. if UN and WB become less dependent on US, the influence of US in the world willbe dimished.

you say that it is "high time" to see that. but any redution in US influence means an increase in the influence of china,india, russia... are you prepared to live in a world where chinese or indian or russian values - social, commercial, political - are more prevalent? to say nothing of the rise in militant islam.

it is hard to be america. sometimes it may seem you have no friends. sometimes the burden may seem too heavy. but america is there for a reason, for all it's imperfections, as an example to the world. turn your back now, you may never be able to face us again.

on climate change, the bast science supports the facts of man made global warming, outside the influence of short and long term cyclical adjustments. to fall back on the counter argument is the work of propaganda. crying "false news" and "false facts" changes neither the news or the facts.

@Yulianna: Yes, I realize that. The US's global influence is never going to last forever. Right now the US is buying influence at great expense with money they don't have. It will come crashing down. Backing off a little bit now might hurt American influence a bit, but might prevent a crash or lessen it.

Russian values on the whole are actually not so different anymore. I am talking about asking the other western countries to step it up to help share the burden. Militant islam is a problem. A problem the US doesn't have a good strategy for dealing with. The track record of the US involvement in the middle east goes something like this: solve one problem and create 2 more. I don't want to see a complete withdraw of the US, but perhaps making it a bit less active.

It is hard to be America, everybody wants to benefit and nobody wants to bear the cost or the blame. Allies are fickle and can turn on the most understandable mistakes. Again, I am not, nor is anybody else, talking about turning their backs. They are talking about reducing their activities by some degree. Especially when it comes to funding other people's militaries.

Climate change, like I said is not perfect and still being developed. I am not crying false news or false facts. I am simply saying that the interpretation of the data is by no means certain or simple.

Voodoo economics? You realize that economics is a social science and as a result every policy is hotly debated by those with phd's in economics the masters of the field.

Having an open mind to the rationalizations might let us better understand where people are coming from and why they think things might work or benefit people. I don't think that Trump is stupid, and we know he is invested in the improvement of the American economy as his family still has a company that would benefit.

@Goralski: You are definately wrong about that. The Israeli government shares a lot of intelligence with the US.

@MarsSword: Like about those WMDs that never materialized? I also checked the rolls for coalition members in both Afghanistan and Iraq. No Israelis. They aren't helping on the ground. And it would seem that their bad intel sparked off the whole mess in Iraq and Syria. I don't know what the ROI on whatever Israel does is...but it doesn't look good.

@Xuan12: I think most of what Israel does is behind the scenes and you wouldn't ever hear off it. Because neither the Israelis or the Americans would tell you besides the fact that they have both said there is a significant amount of intelligence sharing.

Israelis cannot really be a part of the coalition, due to their history with other middle eastern countries those countries would not believe that they are there to help and would not be willing to work with Israel on the basis of ideology. It would be very counter productive.

The WMDs were thought to be there by British, American, and Israeli sources... They were all wrong in that instant.

The health care system is a big issue and there is not simple or cheap fix. The reality is that providing healthcare to all citizens is very expensive. Look at Canada and the proportion of their budget that goes to health care. I think people should have access to health care, but if that is the case there must be budget cuts elsewhere or higher taxes.

@dunpender: A lot of those very same countries are upset about the decreased spending...

@dunpender:

Huh? We actually agree?

Did you read the whole of my comment? Cutting military aid to some countries, cutting back on funding to the UN and World Bank... That has something to do with the US's role on the world stage.