If ever there was a time to unban Harold, this is it.
If ever there was a time to unban Harold, this is it.
Good point. Governments will continue being every bit as useless as before and the deficit will keep ballooning.Originally Posted by randomlegend
I'd be up for it, but there are too many cowards among us.
If the RLs carry on defending the status quo then democracy is pretty much guaranteed to fall within 10-20 years, people are simply fed up with the lack of delivery and that's why Trump wins elections as opposed to Kamala Harris, it's why there's AfD, it's why there's Reform. People will ask for strongmen who get things done as opposed to elected people who don't.
If fans of the status quo are willing to work with the inevitable radicals then it might hold on. No sign of that so far.
They seem to be doubling down, if anything.
Just occurred to me that my boy Rand Paul must be seething seeing others doing the cutting.
Why do you believe Donald Trump and Elon Musk would have any interest in making government more efficient?
Hint: they don't, they are just trying to divert even more money to themselves via tax cuts.
The deficit will not get smaller and everything will get far more useless.
Did you even read what I posted? I know that those two won't make anything better. But they are giving the appearance of trying, which is why they won. If the quite excellent democrats (or even the republicans once they win, for that matter) tried to do something once in a while as opposed to taking the moral high ground on everything, maybe people wouldn't resort to voting for this lot.
Completely false dichotomy.
Just because I think handing the keys to the government to Elon fucking Musk with carte blanche to do what he wants is a very bad idea doesn't mean I believe in "the status quo".
Those are not the only two possibilities.
And what's wrong with that? They aren't meant to be run for profit (and lol neither are corporates these days).
I want my govt to make enormous losses making my experience of life better and easier.
The more money that goes into debt repayment, the less that can go into leisure centers and whatnot. Also inflation. Basic stuff.
How is that going so far?
Pretty good here actually, we're not as privatised as England.
Then why are you bitching all day? Go enjoy life, mate.
I don't even know what your position is any more.
Current government bad. Therefore Musk + Trump better. But no you agree they won't actually make anything better. But that's still better somehow. What?
Debt to who lol we literally print our own money.
"omg ure so dumb that's not how economy works omg mj!"
Fuck your economy it's all fake bullshit.
Current (non-Trump) government bad? Yes
Musk + Trump better? No
Musk + Trump catastrophic danger omg we should all panic the world is ending? No
Trump funny? Yes
Musk funny? No
If you need any more details, please ask.
Mush + Trump worse?
The US spends about 20% of its budget on debt repayment. How large do you think that number should be before considering maybe not borrowing so much?
Ok so it's point 3 where you're wrong, good to know.
Want to place a bet? I'll give you $100 now. If the world is still around by the time Trump's term ends, you give me $150. Deal?
Feel free to offer different terms. Just tell me what terrible thing you predict will occur and we can go from there.
Yes. Mush bad. Crisp good.
Disasters have already happened. The data access Musk has already had is a disaster. You don't want to accept or can't understand that, so there's nothing to be done.
Do I think they will literally lead us to MAD in the next four years? Probably not.
So, if you were American, you should perhaps be worried about some bad actor having access to your data (my data has been compromised like five times at this point, by the way). You are not though. Tell me what bad thing will happen to the UK / World that merits you spending everyday reading and crying about the state of the US government.
But yes, we definitely disagree on how concerned we should be about Musk's employees having access to a treasury database. That is ok.
I wasn't aware we had to be directly impacted by issues in order to post about them on here. It's an absolutely crazy situation happening in the biggest and most powerful nation in the world, hence interesting.
Having said that, it's also ridiculous to suggest American politics don't end up impacting politics in other Western nations, the UK probably more than any other.
If Musk successfully buys the American government (which it looks increasing like he has) then he's sure to try to extend that influence.
Last edited by randomlegend; 14-02-2025 at 03:00 PM.
Yeah I understand that's what you think, but you're wrong.
No you are!
You persistently engage like a child so I'm just responding in kind.No you are!
You are the only person in here that constantly calls other names. I am perfectly fine with having disagreements.
I do think that there is some potential of things going very wrong. The seem to be embracing chaos more this time around. I still trust the CHECKS AND BALANCES though.
Musk has repeatedly said that government finances are unsustainable, and his companies are notably productive, so he is clearly genuine in wanting a more efficient government. Whether this is the best way to go about it, or will really make a difference without going after defence or whatever else, who knows; but people need a more compelling theory than it merely being a play to fund tax cuts (when did Republicans ever care about balancing tax cuts?) or him doing it to win piddling Tesla contracts.
Tesla's productivity is dog shit compared to other car makers. As is their build quality.
@Lewis
The opposite is true. You need an extremely compelling theory to explain why Musk would suddenly genuinely care about government efficiency.
The default position based on the entirety of his existence should be that he is doing it for his own ends because that's all he's ever done
It's all a crypto rug pull and illicit trousering bonanza, it's really not that deep. The cunt literally said 'I will say incorrect things' when challenged the other day, as he went on to say a load more mental shit justifying why he was doing what he was doing.
Without resorting to wibble like 'successfully buys the American government' (this idea requires all of the bad things said about Trump to not apply for some reason), what are the financial incentives at work here? If he wanted to make more and more money wouldn't he be better off just running his companies that have already made him the wealthiest man alive and lobbying for tax and regulation cuts that the Republicans are normally happy to make without any corresponding efficiency drives?
I think all but a select few of the world's car manufacturers are currently in a scramble for their continued existence. Tesla probably isn't one of them. But what about Space X? How do the other companies that catch re-usable rockets compare for efficiency and quality?
Borrowing from who kthx
Yeah very rich people are never looking for more/faster/easier ways to get even richer, that's very true.
He also clearly loves the power.
Okay, but how does this make him richer? If his companies suffer because he is pissing around with Treasury databases then all the tax cuts in the world aren't going to make up for it. The only things the government could do to make him richer don't require him being this hands on.
I suspect he does like the power, but his power is dependent on Trump, who we are assured is a petty little man who doesn't like to be overshadowed, which surely puts a timer on it even if he ends up doing a very good job.
The British Empire was built on Mush.
Isn't the argument as to why somewhat tied up in:
People feel this lack of delivery accounts for their sense that life has become worse for them / the common man [I make no judgment as to whether it has or not] and that some change to the status quo is indeed needed. In that world, simply delivering more Republican Tax Cuts™ isn't going to, well, cut it, is it? More of the same no thanks. So you need more of the same, as of course you want the same if you are very wealthy, but with a bit of flavour - government efficiency, blame Miguel over there for your lack of housing or poor healthcare, don't blame me the man that probably personally gets more US tax dollars than anyone else in the world etc *hyperbole alert*.
On the other side government should be a lot more efficient. The examples of waste are often egregious and it sometimes feels like the whole thing needs burning down and rebuilding, as long as you can do that without society falling apart. As Starmer said, there is a preponderance towards saying no to everything in the civil service/government, always finding a problem but never solving one, endless obfuscation. I'm sure the likes of Cummings thought the same. It is a difficult thing to try to get your head around solving, but instinctively I'm not sure the oligarch playbook is necessarily the one that is going to be of the greatest benefit to the largest number. We'll see, I guess.
We have a 4 year live experiment, apparent 'quiet competence' on the one side in the UK government and move fast and break shit can do culture on the other side of the pond. They'll probably both end up failing ignominiously for different reasons.
Considering Tesla had such a head start with EVs they haven't exactly outperformed the traditional brands have they? Some Model 3s literrally have their bumpers drop off if you live in a higher than average rainfall area.
SpaceX is a good argument for Elon staying in his lane, you can throw all the resources and engineers you want at solving physics problems. Look how his application of the same principles worked at X: turns out people are a more fluid problem. Is he still suing the advertisers he told to fuck off for leaving?
As to what specifically motivates the likes of Musk, who the fuck knows. I can never get my head around it.
Why is Jamie Dimon going mental at 'zoomers'? As a retirement age person with probably hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank why has he been working 7 days a week since covid when he could be sipping pina coladas in the Caribbean? I think you have to just accept that on some level these people are just mad, which is why they get where they are, but also why they seem unable to stop.
With the access his goons had to the treasury systems he could literally siphon money directly from the government into his own bank account.
RL's blind hatred for Musk is something else. Unless it's Karl Marx, you won't be happy.
In other news...and no I've not read into it and no I'm not going to.
Good job the big brains haven't instantly had their public facing internet presence hacked and defaced.
The only redeeming feature of that is the comments which are divided between far too many "lol this will never pass/they can't do this" type responses and people rightly calling the bill introducers weirdos. Do you need to stoop to that level to try and have a point? Along with the red, white and blueland stuff what is going on over there? Do they routinely have loads of banter bills? I can't imagine as yank banter must be one of the few things worse than actual banter, being as they are largely unaware of the concept of irony as a people. Do we routinely get this type of stupidity in our legislative process or do STATE'S RIGHTS exacerbate it ?
Their great failing is how earnest they are about everything. Just watch any Ken Burns doc. THE FLAG OF LIBERTY yeah alright Ken, that'll do.
I had to talk to America about small customers the other day. I used the phrase 'Joe Schmoe' which I thought would be up their alley. Texas Man just looked at me blankly and said 'Are you referring to the independent end user base?' Get a sense of humour, Chuck. Sorry, humOR.
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