Tiger337 Posted April 12 Posted April 12 On 4/12/2025 at 5:46 PM, chasfh said: People who think the regime is gonna stop at immigrants are whistling past the graveyard. Expand They are already going after scientists, researchers. universities, etc. It is pretty obvious by the departments they are targeting anybody who is using critical thnking or learning how to do so. These people go against their best interests. 1 Quote
chasfh Posted April 12 Posted April 12 Well put. Not only do intellectuals go against the regime's best interests, but an educated people in general goes against their interests. That’s why people who are publicly lippy in general may well find themselves in hot water before long. Quote
chasfh Posted April 14 Posted April 14 On 4/13/2025 at 8:53 PM, CMRivdogs said: Expand I feel as though they be willing to see the deficit go up by a trillion dollars if only they could fire the entire government in the process. Quote
HighOPS Posted April 14 Posted April 14 On 4/13/2025 at 8:53 PM, CMRivdogs said: Expand Firing all the federal workers only saves a couple hundred billion. The workers themselves were (are?) a bargain at only $1000 or so per American. Of course (as almost everyone here knows) the only way to balance the budget, if it were a sincere and useful goal, is to return to 20th Century taxation or have huge reductions in Medicare, Social Security and military spending. 1 1 Quote
Tiger337 Posted April 14 Posted April 14 (edited) On 4/14/2025 at 12:53 AM, HighOPS said: Firing all the federal workers only saves a couple hundred billion. The workers themselves were (are?) a bargain at only $1000 or so per American. Of course (as almost everyone here knows) the only way to balance the budget, if it were a sincere and useful goal, is to return to 20th Century taxation or have huge reductions in Medicare, Social Security and military spending. Expand Government employees are not high paid. They make less than their private sector counterparts. The amount saved is gong to be miniscule in the grand scheme of things. It's all about cruelty and revenge and putting on a show. Edited April 14 by Tiger337 Quote
romad1 Posted April 14 Author Posted April 14 (edited) On 4/14/2025 at 1:17 AM, Tiger337 said: Government employees are not high paid. They make less than their private sector counterparts. The amount saved is gong to be miniscule in the grand scheme of things. It's all about cruelty and revenge and putting on a show. Expand More and more I'm convinced there is some "acceleration-alist" angle to the cuts, the intentional egging on of the PRC, the racial animosity. They want to meet Jesus and think the fastest way to do that is to have the End Times happen in the near future. edit: they want the 4 horsemen buffet: War, Famine Pestilence and Death. They want to create war by antagonizing the PRC. They want famine by wrecking the trade that puts a large amount of cheap food on our tables and feeds the World. They want pestilence by eliminating scientific research. They want death by disrupting biomedical advances and turning people against proper hygene and vaccines. If something else fits, if there is a more cogent narrative...tell me. Edited April 14 by romad1 Quote
chasfh Posted April 14 Posted April 14 I used to be all alone here on this island. Welcome aboard … ? 1 Quote
1984Echoes Posted April 14 Posted April 14 On 4/14/2025 at 1:17 AM, Tiger337 said: Government employees are not high paid. They make less than their private sector counterparts. The amount saved is gong to be miniscule in the grand scheme of things. It's all about cruelty and revenge and putting on a show. Expand Not correct. It's all about the Billionaires giving themselves a tax cut. But the optics of a tax cut to enrich themselves while the debt skyrockets is not so good... so... Slash Federal workers to pay for their tax cut. Oh... not enough? Eliminate "fraud" in Social Security... errr, slash the workforce. Still not enough? Trump floated cutting military personnel by half. Stop Pentagon waste. Cancel some "unnecessary" military equipment contracts... Hmmm... still not enough? "OK, balloon our debt please". It's all about the money. "Follow the money trail" guys. Quote
chasfh Posted April 14 Posted April 14 On 4/14/2025 at 8:43 PM, 1984Echoes said: Not correct. It's all about the Billionaires giving themselves a tax cut. But the optics of a tax cut to enrich themselves while the debt skyrockets is not so good... so... Slash Federal workers to pay for their tax cut. Oh... not enough? Eliminate "fraud" in Social Security... errr, slash the workforce. Still not enough? Trump floated cutting military personnel by half. Stop Pentagon waste. Cancel some "unnecessary" military equipment contracts... Hmmm... still not enough? "OK, balloon our debt please". It's all about the money. "Follow the money trail" guys. Expand Yes, it's about starving low-cost areas of government that generate trust and knowledge fore the America people to pay for tax cuts none of us make enough income to get. But it is also about the cruelty and the revenge and the public performance of both. It's about all of it. Quote
Deleterious Posted April 15 Posted April 15 Musk and other people on his wealth level don't give a **** about tax cuts. Do you think he gives a damn if he pays a top rate of 39% vs 37%? Especially when you consider his compensation is not salary based. They use the idea of tax cuts to fire up the tribes and keep them squabbling about useless stuff. They want control. Control of the regulatory agencies. Control of the agencies that award government contracts. Control of a justice system that will turn a blind eye to their crimes against humanity. Right now, the FAA is testing the possibility of replacing the current air traffic control system with Starlink. That alone would make him more money than any tax cut. How many NASA contracts is he pushing towards SpaceX? Government is going to get into the AI game eventually. Do you think Musk is pushing xAI to get any of that work? How many EV incentives can he push to sell more of his cars? Using government money to lower the price of his cars is free money for him. Think about Musk having sway over agencies that regulate his businesses. What if he could influence those agencies to write favorable regulations towards Tesla. If those regulations equal a 10% cut to the cost of producing a car, how much is that worth to Tesla stock price? How much is that worth to the guy who owns 400 million shares of the stock? What if he gets his fingers in the DOJ pie? How many corners can he start to cut if he knows he faces no real penalties for cutting them? Unfair business practices, mergers that should never be allowed to happen, unsafe work place environments, unsafe products reaching the consumer. Tax cuts are just a distraction these guys are using to occupy us while they pillage the country. 2 Quote
Tiger337 Posted April 15 Posted April 15 On 4/14/2025 at 9:56 PM, chasfh said: Yes, it's about starving low-cost areas of government that generate trust and knowledge fore the America people to pay for tax cuts none of us make enough income to get. But it is also about the cruelty and the revenge and the public performance of both. It's about all of it. Expand It's partly about revenge for Trump, but I believe Del was spot on about Musk and other super wealthy businessmen wanting more control rather than tax cuts. Quote
1984Echoes Posted April 15 Posted April 15 On 4/15/2025 at 12:53 AM, Deleterious said: Musk and other people on his wealth level don't give a **** about tax cuts... Expand Musk wants government contracts. Trump wants to reduce his taxes because he's corrupt and greedy. And Trump is not on Musk's level. You don't remember Trump 1.0? Businesses asked for a 24% rate, Trump demanded it drop to 21% because he himself would pay less in taxes. He demanded real estate carve-outs to benefit himself. And he demanded a massive reduction in inheritance taxes because he was pissed he had to pay on his father's estate. He cheats at taxes. Everything Trump does is to avoid taxes, and pocket corrupt money. He's done that his entire life. Trump is not a "successful" billionaire. So you can't put him in Musk's or any other legit billionaire's orbit. He's an imbecile. And he wants tax cuts for himself... and his fellow "billionaire's". Whether they actually want them or not. Quote
Tiger337 Posted April 15 Posted April 15 It's easier for Harvard to play hardball, because they receive so much money from philanthropists, but it's good to see one university standing up to Trump's authoritarianism. This has nothig top do with anti-semitism and everything to do with control. It's not the president's job to tell universities what they can teach and what they can research with funds they have already been awarded. https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/14/us/harvard-rejects-policy-changes/index.html 1 Quote
gehringer_2 Posted April 15 Posted April 15 (edited) On 4/15/2025 at 1:28 AM, Tiger337 said: It's easier for Harvard to play hardball, because they receive so much money from philanthropists, but it's good to see one university standing up to Trump's authoritarianism. This has nothig top do with anti-semitism and everything to do with control. It's not the president's job to tell universities what they can teach and what they can research with funds they have already been awarded. https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/14/us/harvard-rejects-policy-changes/index.html Expand An editorial writer (don't remember who) wrote in the NYT that if the rich UNIs aren't willing to spend some of the their endowments to defend academic freedom, then they really might as well hang it up. He is spot on. Edited April 15 by gehringer_2 Quote
chasfh Posted April 15 Posted April 15 On 4/15/2025 at 1:05 AM, Tiger337 said: It's partly about revenge for Trump, but I believe Del was spot on about Musk and other super wealthy businessmen wanting more control rather than tax cuts. Expand It’s the control, too. It’s some of all of that. Quote
chasfh Posted April 15 Posted April 15 On 4/15/2025 at 2:02 AM, gehringer_2 said: An editorial writer (don't remember who) wrote in the NYT that if the rich UNIs aren't willing to spend some of the their endowments to defend academic freedom, then they really might as well hang it up. He is spot on. Expand I’ve never rooted so hard for Harvard in my life. Quote
Deleterious Posted April 15 Posted April 15 On 4/15/2025 at 1:13 AM, 1984Echoes said: Musk wants government contracts. Trump wants to reduce his taxes because he's corrupt and greedy. And Trump is not on Musk's level. You don't remember Trump 1.0? Businesses asked for a 24% rate, Trump demanded it drop to 21% because he himself would pay less in taxes. He demanded real estate carve-outs to benefit himself. And he demanded a massive reduction in inheritance taxes because he was pissed he had to pay on his father's estate. He cheats at taxes. Everything Trump does is to avoid taxes, and pocket corrupt money. He's done that his entire life. Trump is not a "successful" billionaire. So you can't put him in Musk's or any other legit billionaire's orbit. He's an imbecile. And he wants tax cuts for himself... and his fellow "billionaire's". Whether they actually want them or not. Expand All of those tax cuts are SOP for a republican politician gearing up for election. I also don't know what a "successful" billionaire is. Are you saying he is not a billionaire? Quote
pfife Posted April 15 Posted April 15 Data is gold. Especially when its about your companies regulatory situations. https://www.npr.org/2025/04/15/nx-s1-5355896/doge-nlrb-elon-musk-spacex-security Quote
Tiger337 Posted April 15 Posted April 15 On 4/15/2025 at 4:23 AM, Deleterious said: All of those tax cuts are SOP for a republican politician gearing up for election. I also don't know what a "successful" billionaire is. Are you saying he is not a billionaire? Expand I am not sure what he means by "successful billionaire", but he has never invented anything or performed a unique service which changed the way people live their lives. To me, that is what makes a super wealthy person successful. He inherited his biggest business from his father and he has built everything around that. An inordinate number of his business ventures have failed either because he's a poor businessman or they weren't real businesses or both. His main skill seems to be making deals by bullying and manipulating people. That certainly wouldn't make him unique among billionaires, but I don't think it makes him successful among billonaires either. 1 1 Quote
Deleterious Posted April 15 Posted April 15 On 4/15/2025 at 4:50 PM, Tiger337 said: I am not sure what he means by "successful billionaire", but he has never invented anything or performed a unique service which changed the way people live their lives. To me, that is what makes a super wealthy person successful. He inherited his biggest business from his father and he has built everything around that. An inordinate number of his business ventures have failed either because he's a poor businessman or they weren't real businesses or both. His main skill seems to be making deals by bullying and manipulating people. That certainly wouldn't make him unique among billionaires, but I don't think it makes him successful among billonaires either. Expand Agree with this except maybe the failures. But I have a couple of epic failures, so I might be a bit biased. Quote
Tiger337 Posted April 15 Posted April 15 On 4/15/2025 at 7:26 PM, Deleterious said: Agree with this except maybe the failures. But I have a couple of epic failures, so I might be a bit biased. Expand Failures can certainly be part of success, but he had multiple casino bankruptcies which seems pretty hard to do. Quote
Mr.TaterSalad Posted April 15 Posted April 15 On 4/15/2025 at 7:33 PM, pfife said: I think hes looking for global power. Expand Trump or Musk? I'd say both. Quote
oblong Posted April 15 Posted April 15 I have nothing to back it up but I bet hus casino bankruptcies were either intentional or due to cheating. Quote
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