Lone Candle
Champion of Truth
Due to European military dependence on the US, Europe has been deferential to the US. They let the US use their land and facilities even for wars they disagreed with.
Defending Europe is not a driver of US spending. Europe spending more is good, but it won’t make the defense of the US and its interests cheaper. If the relationship is too damaged, it will make it more expensive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAr7k_ACewY
The taxpayer shouldn’t bail out farmers who suck at farming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVRRcQjKcPM
“a company involved in its last renovation more than 15 years ago was approached with an opportunity to do this remodel as well. But the company said no.
Specifically, it balked at two requirements – the Trump administration wanted it done by July 4, and the pool bottom had to be blue, according to two employees with the New Jersey-based Sika Corporation, which provided the concrete construction and sealing products for a 2010 renovation project to the Reflecting Pool.
According to the two employees, who spoke to CNN on the condition they not be identified, both demands made the job “unfeasible.”
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It was initially estimated to cost $1.8 million, but the price tag is now up to $14.7 million
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Sika declined the proposal after a routine assessment of feasibility and risk, the employees said. One of the Sika specialists assumed that was because Sika’s solution was complicated and lengthy, not fitting the contractor’s tight timeline of just a few months turnaround.
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a journalist and former Republican communications strategist, Eddie Wood, who owns Atlantic Industrial Coatings, said it was the government that decided to use a type of plastic-like coating called polyurea and contract Rhino Linings to provide those materials.
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As for the Rhino 406 Primer, one Sika employee said that epoxy, which is a popular coating for garage floors, is rigid, and would not be a good solution for flexing joints like the ones in the Reflecting Pool.
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The last time Sika worked on the reflecting pool was in 2012, when President Barack Obama’s administration spent $34 million on an 18-month renovation of the pool which was meant to address ongoing issues with algae blooms.
However, shortly after that renovation was completed, the pool again became a murky, smelly mess. That apparent failure to adequately address the issues with the pool became political fodder for Trump when he ordered his own renovation.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/exclusive-firm-that-worked-on-past-reflecting-pool-renovation-passed-on-trump-project-after-deeming-it-unfeasible-212702886.html
The Army doesn’t have enough money to keep its people trained and its equipment maintained and up to date.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni2wJo7fKBA
“There is no simple relation between government spending and inflation”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=346rx5Mc9Ng
Japan has lots of assets like a massive sovereign wealth fund. When you subtract these assets from their debts, their debt to GDP ratio is 77%, which isn’t that high.
Japan takes money from its people in the form of taxes and then invests in assets like US treasury bonds. Because their currency depreciated over time, their debt has become worth less, while their foreign assets have become worth more.
This has benefited Japan a lot, but may backfire if the Yen goes up, foreign interest rates lower, or Japanese interest rates rise. If Japan has inflation, this could force them to raise interest rates or live with inflation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLwSSGM6tzc
For a long time, a lot of people who really just wanted a smaller government pretended to care about debt (or fooled themselves into thinking they cared about debt).
Three quarters of US government spending make the federal government an insurance company with an army. As a percentage of the total spending, waste fraud and abuse is very small. DOGE was a failure because it didn’t understand the US federal government. If you want to significantly reduce spending, you have to stop sending Americans checks (like Medicare and Social Security), or/and have to weaken the military, although the check cutting part is much bigger than the military spending part.
Republican politicians used to lie, or be misinformed, by saying that tax cuts pay for themselves; now they lie, or are misinformed, by saying Trump won the 2020 election (he did not). It’s hard to make a tough compromise under such politics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXKAfcgl7eU
Mamdani managed to balance New York City’s budget with help from the state, taxes, efficiency savings, and financial engineering.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4X75xWwq-c
“President Donald Trump on Wednesday said it’s “not possible” for the federal government to fund Medicare, Medicaid and child care costs, arguing that it should be up to the states to “take care” of those programs while the federal government focuses on military spending.
The president’s remarks were delivered to attendees at a private Easter luncheon at the White House”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/trump-says-not-possible-u-150440299.html
The Democrats tried to fund the TSA. Republicans rejected it.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5794925-tsa-funding-senate-rules/