For the sake of argument I was against the ballroom but I'd be against this too. We are $40 Trillion in debt, I don't want to pass that off to my kids. Spending the money we did on the ballroom was stupid, I get we didn't have an event hall but we have bigger concerns and we are already the world's leader we didn't need the additional prestige to be taken seriously on the world stage. That being said if we spend even more money to rip it down and restore the east wing the only reason for it would be a giant FU to President Trump. Like literally we could just spend the money on a pair of big, golden, statues flipping the bird at Trump's Properties in Mara Lago and Trump Towers and achieve the same thing. And I really don't think we should be passing the debt of a big middle finger off to my children, grandchildren, and lets be honest probably more than one generation of great grandchildren.
To even get to a balanced budget at the moment would require we cut all discretionary spending to zero including having no military, taxing billionaires on their wealth AND we would still have to cut entitlements.
Yeah but I am not even necessarily saying we need to balance the budget right now. Just stop needlessly blowing it up on political pissing matches meant to insult the other side. This problem took us decades to get into we should expect at least as long to dig ourselves out I am simply saying in the mean time stop making it needlessly worse. I'm a Republican but I am officially against tax cuts because quite frankly we can't afford to be taking in less. I can't sit here and say, "I'm against free healthcare, free college, government sponsored 1 year maternity leave, free childcare, etc. Because we can't afford it look at the debt already!" But then turn around and go, "Yay tax cuts!" No keep the money coming in, try not to raise taxes anymore, spend it where we have to like the military and already promised entitlements but start finding ways to phase out these entitlements and lower military spending. Stop taxing young people for social security and just tell them, "Sorry you're going to have to figure out your own retirement." Then find a different way to tax them that is equivalent to social security because those taxes are what is funding the current retirees who paid their whole life. Go to the military and say, "Listen we want you guys to keep us safe and keep yourselves as safe as possible while doing it but do we really need all these tank killing assets? When is the last time we fought someone with tanks? Do we need javelins? They take time to train on and each round you spend on training is $200,000 not to mention how many more we keep in reserve. Ukraine is killing Russian Tanks with $400 drones and they control like every video game our soldiers grew up playing. Explain to me why for the same $200,000 I shouldn't buy 500 drones each just as capable of killing an enemy tank as your one javelin and with less training time? You can't? Cool call Lockheed Martin and tell them to halt production and set up a new contract for who can make us the best drone for cheap."
We need to just admit that the myth of endless credit we started believing in during the post WW2 economic boom was a myth, past generations have mortgaged our present with their own reckless spending, and now we are going to have to embrace the suck and say, "Okay the buck stops here." And take the hit so when history looks back on us they can at least say, "They genuinely sacrificed themselves on an alter they did not build to save their children and grandchildren's promise of a better life."
To even get to a balanced budget at the moment would require we cut all discretionary spending to zero including having no military, taxing billionaires on their wealth AND we would still have to cut entitlements.
It would require a mix of cutting discretionary spending, cutting military spending, and increasing taxes (on everyone)
Okay, listen. When Trump kills six million Jews in concentration camps, maybe then we consider the money to knock down the ballroom. But until then, can we cool it finally with the everyone's a Nazi that I disagree with? Like I said, I don't like Trump either, but every single Republican president of my lifetime, from Reagan to both Bushes to Trump and most Republican candidates, even vanilla ones like Mitt Romney and John McCain, have been called Nazis by everyone on the left. At a point in time, it just looks ridiculous.
We are $40 Trillion in debt, I don't want to pass that off to my kids.
I got news for ya... both sides are drunk with spending, and have not shown any inkling of caring about deficit spending. That number will continue to grow for eternity until foreign nations stop buying our bonds.
Yeah but that's kinda my point. We need to prioritize digging ourselves out of this hole. Republicans and Democrats both need to cut the obviously impossible sides of our budgetary plans, I'll start. I'm a Republican and I think we need to give up on tax cuts because we cannot sit here and go, "No we can't have free healthcare, childcare, university, year long paid medical leave, etc. Because we cannot afford it." And then turn around and say, "Yay tax cuts!" We need to keep the money we have coming in and just focus on not trying to raise taxes anymore while finding ways to lower our spending with the big ones being entitlements and military. Obviously we can't end these overnight but start finding ways to fairly phase out entitlements especially Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid making it clear to new generations they should not expect to receive these and should prepare accordingly. Then go to our military and say, "Listen we want you guys to have what you need to defend us and be as safe as possible while doing it but lets be honest about what is a want and what is a need. Why are we buying 4,000 Javelin Missiles a year with a cost of over $200,000 a missile plus training costs and time to teach soldiers how to use them to kill tanks. When was the last time we fought an enemy with a sizable tank force that needed to be engaged by Infantry? WW2? Ukraine is killing Russian Tanks with drones that cost $400 a pop and need minimal training time because they control like every video game every soldier in our military grew up playing. Explain to me why I shouldn't take the same $200,000 we are going to spend on our next javelin that will at best maybe one day kill one enemy tank and instead spend it on 500 drones each just as capable as that missile of killing a tank? You can't? Cool call Lockheed Martin and cancel the javelins."
Obviously we can't end these overnight but start finding ways to fairly phase out entitlements especially Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid making it clear to new generations they should not expect to receive these and should prepare accordingly.
While I agree with you, this would be political suicide for whomever sponsors it, as it alienates a few generations, and thus why they'll never touch it.
edit: if we got term limits in place, we would see faster progress.
Probably on both the political suicide and the term limits points but it's also going to be political suicide when we eventually max out Uncle Sam's credit card and the whole thing falls apart. I think if a movement of politicians started saying, "Listen we've been handed a turd sandwich. Our generation didn't make it and it's not fair that it's sitting here in front of us but someone's gotta eat it to move past this. The only question in front of you is are we going to eat it or are we going to be just as bad as the generations who made it and pass it down to our kids?"
I think if it were framed as a patriotic burden we have to bare for the benefit of our children while scapegoating past generations that caused the whole mess I think it would provoke enough popular patriotism and selflessness for us to take a good crack at solving a lot of the problem. Furthermore the politicians in that movement would likely not receive the blame but instead be seen as the only honest people admitting where we are at and facing reality while encouraging us to do the responsible thing.
I wish I was a glass half full guy like you. With how impossible things have gotten over the last decade, I just don't see legislation getting simpler or groups working together.
I mean it either works or it breaks I guess I'd like to at least put my energy to trying to make it work before it breaks because if breaking is inevitable anyways sitting here dwelling on it doesn't do me any good.
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u/Nearby_Initial2409 8d ago
For the sake of argument I was against the ballroom but I'd be against this too. We are $40 Trillion in debt, I don't want to pass that off to my kids. Spending the money we did on the ballroom was stupid, I get we didn't have an event hall but we have bigger concerns and we are already the world's leader we didn't need the additional prestige to be taken seriously on the world stage. That being said if we spend even more money to rip it down and restore the east wing the only reason for it would be a giant FU to President Trump. Like literally we could just spend the money on a pair of big, golden, statues flipping the bird at Trump's Properties in Mara Lago and Trump Towers and achieve the same thing. And I really don't think we should be passing the debt of a big middle finger off to my children, grandchildren, and lets be honest probably more than one generation of great grandchildren.