I wonder how many career government workers this would put on the street.
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Apolyton's Grim Reaper 2008, 2010 & 2011
RIP lest we forget... SG (2) and LaFayette -- Civ2 Succession Games Brothers-in-Arms
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Originally posted by Jon Miller View PostCutting the DOE research funding will go a long way to making sure that we can't stay competitive with China/etc on energy.
JMIf there is no sound in space, how come you can hear the lasers?
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As for cutting the military, if you just stripped out everything the Pentagon doesn't want and is force-fed by Congress you could slash it by quite a bit. They're basically jobs programs which have no value to anyone.
Originally posted by Docfeelgood View PostWonder how much would be saved if congress took a pay cut?If there is no sound in space, how come you can hear the lasers?
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Originally posted by Hauldren Collider View PostWe'd have better congressmen if we actually paid them enough.
BTW Nigerian senators get paid something like $2,000,000 per year. I could do without Nigerian senators thank you.
Nigerian senators
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We are already behind on Nuclear and Fusion. The knowledge and expertise aren't in America there, and the money won't be either.
If that doesn't matter to you, then OK. But if we want the US to have a high gdp, we need to be innovative.
We don't want to compete with China and Thailand in manufacturing.
And we are too big to be just services.
Other countries subsidize their innovations. If we don't too, we will fall behind. And people like you will go to China for jobs, just like now (and 10-40 years ago) people from China/etc came to the US.
JMJon Miller-
I AM.CANADIAN
GENERATION 35: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment.
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Originally posted by Jon Miller View PostWe are already behind on Nuclear and Fusion. The knowledge and expertise aren't in America there, and the money won't be either.
If that doesn't matter to you, then OK. But if we want the US to have a high gdp, we need to be innovative.
We don't want to compete with China and Thailand in manufacturing.
And we are too big to be just services.
Other countries subsidize their innovations. If we don't too, we will fall behind. And people like you will go to China for jobs, just like now (and 10-40 years ago) people from China/etc came to the US.
JM
Look, innovation is not something that springs from handouts to companies with political clout, which is basically what DoE deals in. Subsidizing innovation is certainly not how we got airplanes or the Ford Model T or crap like that. The government directs our money towards things that are political, not economical. I trust an investment bank a lot more than Obama or my congressman to figure out what we should spend money on. And not even because the investment bank is necessarily smarter than the politicians, but because they are motivated to earn money. All politicians are trying to get are votes.
You are wrong if you think that we need to subsidize to innovate. In fact I would say that we need to do the opposite, if we want people to innovate we need to remove barriers, not pick winners and losers.If there is no sound in space, how come you can hear the lasers?
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Originally posted by Hauldren Collider View PostAs for cutting the military, if you just stripped out everything the Pentagon doesn't want and is force-fed by Congress you could slash it by quite a bit. They're basically jobs programs which have no value to anyone.
Congress should be paid more, not less. They have to have two houses and could be earning like 4x as much in the private sector. We'd have better congressmen if we actually paid them enough.
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Originally posted by Docfeelgood View Postyou don't think we have the best congress that money can buy?If there is no sound in space, how come you can hear the lasers?
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Cause the US put men on the moon and nuked Hiroshima without government subsidies.
And the reason why the best people in asia+europe work in the US has nothing to do with government subsidies either.
JMJon Miller-
I AM.CANADIAN
GENERATION 35: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment.
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Originally posted by Hauldren Collider View PostI don't think you can buy a Congress, but I hope you grasp the idea that when you pay people more you can attract more talent. I suspect someone will retort with "well the pay seems to be enough for the people who are there" to which I pre-emptively reply, OBVIOUSLY, or else they wouldn't be there, but have you noticed something about the quality of our legislative branch? Do you think maybe there are people that don't run for office because they don't want to have to pay for two houses, one of which is in one of the most expensive areas of the country, on a salary of $250,000 a year? (Answer: YES)
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Originally posted by Jon Miller View PostCause the US put men on the moon and nuked Hiroshima without government subsidies.
And the reason why the best people in asia+europe work in the US has nothing to do with government subsidies either.
JM
And the fact that government handouts have produced many innovations only shows that the system isn't a complete failure. It says nothing about the opportunity costs.
NASA is in another category altogether as well. Space exploration and other enormously expensive projects are obviously the responsibility of the government. Small-time stuff like hybrid cars and wind turbines are not something the government should be investing in. If they are actually good ideas, then let the market figure that out. The incentives of businessmen are a lot more favorable to our welfare than the incentives of politicians.If there is no sound in space, how come you can hear the lasers?
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Originally posted by gribbler View PostI think congress would be a pretty terrible job for people who just care about money.If there is no sound in space, how come you can hear the lasers?
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