My first thought here is what is an "Ax?" Maybe it is a typo, no it is on the title as well. Ok all Google for the definition. Will TIL it is an alternative spelling for axe. Who knew?
Ax falls on elite group of PhDs training to lead U.S. public health labs
41–50 of 52 posts
Re: Ax falls on elite group of PhDs training to lead U.S. public health labs
#42More than a little frustrating. I genuinely don't know what these people actually like about America, even in the past. Something I always took pride in for America was that we took research pretty seriously, especially in the last century. Between the CDC, NIH, NASA, FDA, a ton of university research grants, and even the military, the US has been a significant player in research for my entire life. Well, my entire l…
I think it's only possible to disregard the dumb American stereotype if you're from a coastal city. If you've spent any time anywhere else outside of major metropolitan areas in America, you know that there's a very strong strain of anti-intellectualism in our culture. That's nothing new. And in fact, in many places, it's something that people take pride in.
Re: Ax falls on elite group of PhDs training to lead U.S. public health labs
#43My first thought here is what is an "Ax?" Maybe it is a typo, no it is on the title as well. Ok all Google for the definition. Will TIL it is an alternative spelling for axe. Who knew?
Not us anymore, we fired all the spelling researchers.
Re: Ax falls on elite group of PhDs training to lead U.S. public health labs
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
you and he are also wrong about the overspending, unaccountability, and the bureaucratic class. I see spending at 123% of GDP, never that high outside war. I see $35.46 trillion in debt, tripled over the last 20 years. I dunno, looks he is right about overspending.
I don't know how many times I need to repeat this. Musk and Trump are not concerned about debt or spending. If they were, Trump and Republicans wouldn't be rushing a billionaire tax cut bill that will add tens of trillions of dollars to the national debt. If Trump cared about debt he wouldn't have run up $8 trillion in debt his last term with PPP helicopter money and more billionaire tax cuts.
The context of this discussion is that regardless of who is in office, there is an overspending problem. So it doesn’t exactly bear itself worth repeating here.
Re: Ax falls on elite group of PhDs training to lead U.S. public health labs
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
The economic gains are being absorbed by the billionaires who are running the asylum
the billionaires have a lot of money as individual anomalies, but most wealth is generated by corporations that must pay market rates for labor or else they will get undercut by other businesses; labor is never cheap. Thus, those at the upper-echelons of the working-class--managers, senior engineers, etc.--as a class, hold the most significant stores of wealth in the US, perhaps far more than all the billionaires put…
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Re: Ax falls on elite group of PhDs training to lead U.S. public health labs
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Here's the thing: you and he are also wrong about the overspending, unaccountability, and the bureaucratic class. Those things exist in about the same proportion they exist in any other large corporation, and is not special to the government. There has been a decades long campaign of Just Plain Lies to tell you otherwise. He is failing to seek out the waste, fraud, and abuse because they do not exist in anywhere near…
you and he are also wrong about the overspending, unaccountability, and the bureaucratic class. I see spending at 123% of GDP, never that high outside war. I see $35.46 trillion in debt, tripled over the last 20 years. I dunno, looks he is right about overspending.
The spending is following Congress' priorities. You can't solve it by firing the employees, especially not by firing them at random, and not from departments making up a fraction of a percent of the spending.
As I said, fixing the spending requires us to look at our national priorities. We spend most of our money on defense, social security, and medicare. You can cut everything else and not close the deficit.
That requires a serious conversation. Which I cannot have with somebody telling me that somehow "DEI" is a substantial piece of our budget.
Re: Ax falls on elite group of PhDs training to lead U.S. public health labs
#47More than a little frustrating. I genuinely don't know what these people actually like about America, even in the past. Something I always took pride in for America was that we took research pretty seriously, especially in the last century. Between the CDC, NIH, NASA, FDA, a ton of university research grants, and even the military, the US has been a significant player in research for my entire life. Well, my entire l…
I think it's only possible to disregard the dumb American stereotype if you're from a coastal city. If you've spent any time anywhere else outside of major metropolitan areas in America, you know that there's a very strong strain of anti-intellectualism in our culture. That's nothing new. And in fact, in many places, it's something that people take pride in.
I live in NYC now, but I grew up in Florida, even a fair amount of time in upstate “Florabama” territory.
No shortage of anti-intellectualism, but it’s a mistake to group everyone together there; even in the Deep South there are progressive people who are genuinely intelligent.
Re: Ax falls on elite group of PhDs training to lead U.S. public health labs
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
1. Firing != reducing spending 2. Many of the employment and B2B contracts they're cancelling are breaching the contracts, so much of the firing is likely illegal 3. This judge didn't rule on the legality, meaning his ruling has no bearing on whether it's legal: "However, Cooper on Thursday said, he likely lacks the power to hear the case, and the unions instead must file complaints with a federal labor board that he…
1. Firing != reducing spending ?
Budgets are set by Congress. The money is allocated and is supposed to be spent regardless of payroll.
It's very likely most of these reduced payroll costs will just be spent on outside contractors who cost much more per hour of work.
Re: Ax falls on elite group of PhDs training to lead U.S. public health labs
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it's only possible to disregard the dumb American stereotype if you're from a coastal city. If you've spent any time anywhere else outside of major metropolitan areas in America, you know that there's a very strong strain of anti-intellectualism in our culture. That's nothing new. And in fact, in many places, it's something that people take pride in.
I live in NYC now, but I grew up in Florida, even a fair amount of time in upstate “Florabama” territory. No shortage of anti-intellectualism, but it’s a mistake to group everyone together there; even in the Deep South there are progressive people who are genuinely intelligent.
See also: Huntsville, AL, aka Rocket City. One of the largest concentration of PhDs in the country, most of whom are working on spaceflight and aeronautics.
Everything _around_ HSV though? Well.
Re: Ax falls on elite group of PhDs training to lead U.S. public health labs
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
I live in NYC now, but I grew up in Florida, even a fair amount of time in upstate “Florabama” territory. No shortage of anti-intellectualism, but it’s a mistake to group everyone together there; even in the Deep South there are progressive people who are genuinely intelligent.
See also: Huntsville, AL, aka Rocket City. One of the largest concentration of PhDs in the country, most of whom are working on spaceflight and aeronautics. Everything _around_ HSV though? Well.
From ages 4-12, we lived in Niceville, FL. Niceville's most famous resident is probably Matt Gaetz, just to get a perspective on the voting populous there.
My parents were and are fairly progressive people, and my dad moved there because he worked for an aerospace company that was located on Eglin Air Force Base; he and most of his coworkers had PhDs in aerospace engineering. These were not dumb or ignorant people, they were educated and intelligent.
I've spent more than my fair share of time shitting on the American south and its own special breed of ignorance, but as I said, I think it's a mistake to assume everyone is like that. There are few things more horrible than the Southern Baptist church, and of course that reigns supreme in those areas, but there's always enclaves of intelligent people who are just as frustrated about this stuff as I am.