Viewing profile — sxyuan

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 t…

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 yo…

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 w…

Russia already suspended their participation in Feb. 2023.

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 wi…

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.stlouisf…

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…

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 onl…

> 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 "una…

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, t…

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 …

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 …

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 Sup…

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.) Un…

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…

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 spend…

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…

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. Vouchi…

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.…

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…

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…

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'…

$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=7d6ee07…

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…

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 …