Jim Halpert Pointing to Whiteboard

And it works!

Pretty sure the only people who want to cut government funding are the libertarians...Republicans and Democrats just argue over where the money should be spent; neither is interested in lowering Federal revenue (though there are certainly individual Republicans who want us to do so.)

Republicans want the money "spent" on tax breaks and then trim down social programs. That's been their playbook since the GWB administration. Oh - and over-fund the military.

Tax breaks are fine so long as they actually benefit people.

Social programs that are bloated/ineffective need to be trimmed, so the money can be put to better use elsewhere (like keeping Social Security running, for example). Unless you like wasting $$ then I fail to see why this, conceptually at least, is an issue.

Sorry, unless you want China to attain military parity with us then not keeping the military well-funded is an idiotic move. No such thing as overfunding when you've got the CCP gunning for world's #1 power.

1) Republican tax breaks have always benefitted the corporations and the rich more than the average citizen.

2) Conceptionally, you're right. However, that's not what's happening. Government programs are being cut to the bone and then declared ineffective. Republicans then try to either privatize or cut the programs altogether. Social Security is one example. The ACA (which has been wildly successful, even though it's underfunded) is another example.

3) We spend more than 2 and a half times as much as China. Additionally, our military spending is bloated/ineffective compared to other spending programs; Military Generals have admitted this. Would it kill us to do an audit of military spending and cut our advantage over China to two and a quarter? Nope.

1. So make the tax break for individual income only. Problem solved.

2. At the risk of using tit-for-tat logic, that’s a similar political play to Democrats allowing a porous border to bring in large numbers of illegals and then win their vote with a DACA-style program, so you’ll excuse me if I don’t feel too badly about both sides being cutthroat (though I’d much prefer we have both effective welfare and immigration programs, if ever that’s a possibility).

3. We all want more efficient spending, that’s not the issue. The issue is that we’re not increasing our spending at the same rate China is. We spend WAY more on social programs than defense, so there is no excuse to not increase military spending to maintain an overwhelming advantage. We have to maintain the capability to win a war against either China or Russia while simultaneously holding off the other. Lowering our relative advantage by any amount only increases the real cost in lives (both U.S and allied) should war actually break out.

In my experience, the government runs poorly no matter how much money it has.

https://fallacyinlogic.com/anecdotal-fallacy-definition-and-examples/#:~:text=3.2%20Hasty%20Generalization-,What%20Is%20an%20Anecdotal%20Fallacy%3F,support%20or%20refute%20a%20claim.

How so? Our government is well funded right now and is still a dumpster fire.

Is it? Or is it recovering from an administration that was garbage? An administration that fired or drove all the experienced and knowledgeable experts because our former toddler-like president didn't like to be questioned?

I would like to point out a pattern: GHWB - Recession. Clinton - Economic Boom. GWB - Housing Market Crash. Obama - Recovery. Trump - COVID Debacle... And Biden will clean that mess up. Every Republican administration in my lifetime leaves a dumpster fire for their Democratic successor to clean up. Imagine what progress we would have if we had 12 or 16 solid years under Democratic leadership - they might actually accomplish something more than cleaning up messes.

And yet all of them are spending money we don't have.