[Theafricanlegend]

Mitt Romney has the charisma of a burning monster munch.

[Made in the USA]

(Original post by RandZul'Zorander)
I think with this comment alone you have managed to discredit yourself better than any of us ever could. How you can think a dysfunctional government is a good thing is beyond me. It leads to economic disaster, as you said nothing can get done, which means nothing can get fixed, the debt will keep going up, nothing will be done to help unemployment, and the debt ceiling will stay the same, and then the country is essentially gone. What a nice outcome of a non-functional government.

If you had to choose between a government that was destroying your country or a gridlocked government, you would ratehr have a gridlocked government. The more gridlock there is, the less damage politicians can do.

The debt ceiling showdown was the best thing that ever happened to the US. We cannot keep borrowing without making cuts. There was never any risk of a default. Only six percent of the federal budget is used to pay interest on debt and it's only 10% of federal revenues. That means for every dollar that is spent on interest payments, nine dollars is spent in other places.

We could have EASILY paid for interest just by moving some money around. What scared the hell out of obama was not that wouldn't be able to pay our creditors, what scared him was that he would temporarily not be able to borrow more money or continue spending at obscenely high levels.

[Captain Crash]

(Original post by Made in the USA)
If you had to choose between a government that was destroying your country or a gridlocked government, you would ratehr have a gridlocked government. The more gridlock there is, the less damage politicians can do.

The debt ceiling showdown was the best thing that ever happened to the US. We cannot keep borrowing without making cuts. There was never any risk of a default. Only six percent of the federal budget is used to pay interest on debt and it's only 10% of federal revenues. That means for every dollar that is spent on interest payments, nine dollars is spent in other places.

We could have EASILY paid for interest just by moving some money around. What scared the hell out of obama was not that wouldn't be able to pay our creditors, what scared him was that he would temporarily not be able to borrow more money or continue spending at obscenely high levels.

It's not as easy as you think to just move money around, especially at short notice. Indeed, this was why the US's credit rating took a hit. The three main areas of spending in the US are Medicare/Medicaid, Social Security and the Military, each about 30% of spending. Which would take a 1/3 spending hit in your view?

[RandZul'Zorander]

(Original post by Made in the USA)
If you had to choose between a government that was destroying your country or a gridlocked government, you would ratehr have a gridlocked government. The more gridlock there is, the less damage politicians can do.

The debt ceiling showdown was the best thing that ever happened to the US. We cannot keep borrowing without making cuts. There was never any risk of a default. Only six percent of the federal budget is used to pay interest on debt and it's only 10% of federal revenues. That means for every dollar that is spent on interest payments, nine dollars is spent in other places.

We could have EASILY paid for interest just by moving some money around. What scared the hell out of obama was not that wouldn't be able to pay our creditors, what scared him was that he would temporarily not be able to borrow more money or continue spending at obscenely high levels.

I think you need to go back to political theory. A defunct government is one of the most dreaded things. You never want a defunct or dysfunctional government.

The debt ceiling showdown was terrible. It almost ran this country into default. Dont make such ridiculous statements that it wasn't a big deal. It was going till the last minute. If you think it's a good thing that legislature is so defunct it almost sent our economy into disarray you are a special one.

As someone else said it is not as simple as you think. If you take them money to pay off creditors the. Where is it coming from? Other government programs. What programs would you take from? Probably the social welfare programs. You know the ones that keep many Americans eating and living. Meanwhile you and other republicans refuse to cut the military budget under the guise of 'self defense' even though that budget is obscene and far higher than it needs to be. And of course it also doesn't really defend us but rather is attacking others.


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[Made in the USA]

(Original post by Captain Crash)
It's not as easy as you think to just move money around, especially at short notice. Indeed, this was why the US's credit rating took a hit. The three main areas of spending in the US are Medicare/Medicaid, Social Security and the Military, each about 30% of spending. Which would take a 1/3 spending hit in your view?

Anyone who thinks there is no place to cut obviously has no clue how washington works. The federal government is a huge wasteful bureaucracy

Sooner or later, we are going to have to make those choices, so why not now? A greek style debt crisis isn't that far away, so all raising the debt ceiling over and over again does is kick the can further down the road.

[anarchism101]

(Original post by Made in the USA)
Anyone who thinks there is no place to cut obviously has no clue how washington works. The federal government is a huge wasteful bureaucracy

Sooner or later, we are going to have to make those choices, so why not now?

In short, because no-one wants to cut the military budget, which is what has to be done.

A greek style debt crisis isn't that far away, so all raising the debt ceiling over and over again does is kick the can further down the road.

Not really, the US can pretty much always get out of the situation by selling more bonds to foreign governments, most of whom will just do what they're told by Washington. The only exception is China. If the US were to default on its Chinese debt, that would wreck the Chinese economy and subsequently the American one. On the other hand, if the Chinese were to stop buying US bonds, that would wreck the American economy and subsequently the Chinese one. It's a game of chicken.

[thunder_chunky]

So Radioactive monkeys would beat Mitt Romney in an election then? Sounds about right.

[Made in the USA]

(Original post by RandZul'Zorander)
I think you need to go back to political theory. A defunct government is one of the most dreaded things. You never want a defunct or dysfunctional government.

The debt ceiling showdown was terrible. It almost ran this country into default. Dont make such ridiculous statements that it wasn't a big deal. It was going till the last minute. If you think it's a good thing that legislature is so defunct it almost sent our economy into disarray you are a special one.

As someone else said it is not as simple as you think. If you take them money to pay off creditors the. Where is it coming from? Other government programs. What programs would you take from? Probably the social welfare programs. You know the ones that keep many Americans eating and living. Meanwhile you and other republicans refuse to cut the military budget under the guise of 'self defense' even though that budget is obscene and far higher than it needs to be. And of course it also doesn't really defend us but rather is attacking others.


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

The so-called social welfare programs that you say keep Americans eating and living are a huge waste of money. 50% of all Americans are on some form of government assistance and I would be really surprised if even 1/2 those people really need it. I'd like to see these programs cut and the lazy freeloaders who are leaching off the tax payers can go out and get a job like the rest of us

[RandZul'Zorander]

(Original post by Made in the USA)
The so-called social welfare programs that you say keep Americans eating and living are a huge waste of money. 50% of all Americans are on some form of government assistance and I would be really surprised if even 1/2 those people really need it. I'd like to see these programs cut and the lazy freeloaders who are leaching off the tax payers can go out and get a job like the rest of us

I find it amazing that you think you can make such assertions without a shred of evidence. Any reason you think these people don't need help? And then of course there is the 'I think you should stop being so lazy an get a job' attitude and then you whine that nobody can get jobs. Some real consistency there.

EDIT: you do realize that things like Medicare and Medicaid which most senior citizens qualify for and have right?

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[Gooner92]

I would like Obama to win as I am a liberal but I dont think its going happen then again if you have seen the Republican candidate Mitt Romney he is the biggest idiot in america. The amount of Corporate lobbying done on behalf off Mitt Romney is hilarious.The republicans fascination with the army just makes me laugh , if he is elected to office he said he would preserve the whole defence budget and most likely instigate a war with Iran in the name of keeping the usa safe. Furthermore all this propaganda by fox news for the republicans is just funny , you guys need to watch a show called the daily show to truly find out how illogical republicans are.

[Gooner92]

(Original post by Captain Crash)
It's not as easy as you think to just move money around, especially at short notice. Indeed, this was why the US's credit rating took a hit. The three main areas of spending in the US are Medicare/Medicaid, Social Security and the Military, each about 30% of spending. Which would take a 1/3 spending hit in your view?

Military obviously due to public health should be the priority at number one followed by social secuirty (Any government system that provides monetary assistance to people with an inadequate or no income). The USA does not need to spend trillions fighting wars that they are never going to win (Afghanistan) and should have never invaded Iraq , George Bush is an idiot for spending trillions on wars and now Obama is trying to repair the damage that he done when he left office. Fighting wars around the world is not important , the only military spending should be on defending oneself from attack which NATO does anyways and if you dont know what NATO is then google it. You dont get anything from having army bases all over the world this isnt the time of the cold war.

[anarchism101]

(Original post by RandZul'Zorander)
And then of course there is the 'I think you should stop being so lazy an get a job' attitude and then you whine that nobody can get jobs. Some real consistency there.

This is about OWS, but still seemed relevant here:

[RandZul'Zorander]

(Original post by anarchism101)
This is about OWS, but still seemed relevant here:

Haha exactly my point


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[Captain Crash]

(Original post by Made in the USA)
Anyone who thinks there is no place to cut obviously has no clue how washington works. The federal government is a huge wasteful bureaucracy

The DOD is the largest single employer in the world, ahead of the Red Army, Indian Railways and the NHS. So I agree with you, there is a lot of wasteful bureaucracy..... in the military. Until the republicans agree that military spending needs to be cut, they're hypocrites.

(Original post by Made in the USA)
Sooner or later, we are going to have to make those choices, so why not now? A greek style debt crisis isn't that far away, so all raising the debt ceiling over and over again does is kick the can further down the road.

A greek crisis won't even happen in the US. Even if (and that's a huge if) debt levels rose to Greek levels with corresponding drops in revenue and an economy heavily reliant on tourism, the US can use monetary policy in a way Greece couldn't.

[Made in the USA]

(Original post by Captain Crash)
The DOD is the largest single employer in the world, ahead of the Red Army, Indian Railways and the NHS. So I agree with you, there is a lot of wasteful bureaucracy..... in the military. Until the republicans agree that military spending needs to be cut, they're hypocrites.

Newly elected tea party republicans have no problem cutting military spending. The two political parties are very diverse. I don't understand why people on this forum like to make sweeping generalizations about our political parties. You probably think all democrats are against capital punishment or for gay marriage too

[Super Cicero]

(Original post by Made in the USA)
Newly elected tea party republicans have no problem cutting military spending. The two political parties are very diverse. I don't understand why people on this forum like to make sweeping generalizations about our political parties. You probably think all democrats are against capital punishment or for gay marriage too

Really....? This may be the case for a handful of more libertarian Tea Partiers like Rand Paul, but most of the leading Tea Party figures are in favour of maintaining a vast US military. For example, Marco Rubio the "crown prince" of the Tea Party movement is very neo-conservative on defence and in his speech (The Rubio Doctrine) seems to be much more of a neo-con than Romney or Obama.

[Made in the USA]

(Original post by Super Cicero)
Really....? This may be the case for a handful of more libertarian Tea Partiers like Rand Paul, but most of the leading Tea Party figures are in favour of maintaining a vast US military. For example, Marco Rubio the "crown prince" of the Tea Party movement is very neo-conservative on defence and in his speech (The Rubio Doctrine) seems to be much more of a neo-con than Romney or Obama.

http://www.pressherald.com/news/nati...011-01-24.html

Rubio is just one man. He doesn't represent all tea party members

[anarchism101]

Personally I think Ryan is actually a pretty good choice. He's much less distant and more charismatic than Romney, and he isn't the ultra-neocon that Romney and much of the rest of the GOP are (however if you look at his voting record, he is indeed a neocon, just not a vocal one) - he doesn't exude any of the 'mad' factor that turns moderates off a lot of Republicans. Plus there's the geographic factor that he's from the Midwest, a region Romney needs to do well in.

On the other hand, one of the places Romney has problems is with the Christian right, and as Ryan isn't much of a social conservative, he doesn't really help there. And unhelpfully for Romney, Ryan supported the bailouts.

[Will Lucky]

Paul Ryan, this should be a easy victory for Obama. Considering his economic views wow...just wow.

[Xotol]

Terrible choice. To win the election Romney needs to address those on the fence, this nutjob only panders to the Republicans. God his economic views are awful. Independents and co will probably be choosing Obama now.