2016 Election
Dec 6th 2016, 8:39 am
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Re: 2016 Election
$93m spent so far...
Dec 6th 2016, 8:48 am
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Re: 2016 Election
I'll see if I can dig up the quote, but it may have been from one of his books that popped up in an article criticizing his business success. I remember it as along the lines of "If the builders come to me and say that it will cost $75M, I tell people that it will cost $100M, that way, when it's completed for $85M, I can claim that all my projects come in under budget, and I get awarded more contracts"
Dec 6th 2016, 8:48 am
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Dec 6th 2016, 8:59 am
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Re: 2016 Election
Catching up on this thread after a short absence ...
On the subject of jobs moving overseas ... it does seem rather ironic that we continue to pass laws to improve the 'well-being' of 'the workers' in this country - in the form of minimum wage increases, overtime requirements, job safety requirements, requirements for healthcare, etc - but don't have a mechanism in place to penalize other countries that don't follow suite.
If we believe it to be morally imperative to implement such rules, then why don't we acknowledge that other countries are not doing these things, and somehow penalize them for it?
I realize it would be an impossibly complex system to design and implement, but some form of 'weighting' of tariffs against other countries based on their performance relative to the standards that exist in this country would seem to make sense.
Of course, it may mean that goods from Sweden, or Germany, and other European countries would have to be given a negative tariff ...
Ain't gonna happen. Just a thought that crossed my mind ...
On the subject of jobs moving overseas ... it does seem rather ironic that we continue to pass laws to improve the 'well-being' of 'the workers' in this country - in the form of minimum wage increases, overtime requirements, job safety requirements, requirements for healthcare, etc - but don't have a mechanism in place to penalize other countries that don't follow suite.
If we believe it to be morally imperative to implement such rules, then why don't we acknowledge that other countries are not doing these things, and somehow penalize them for it?
I realize it would be an impossibly complex system to design and implement, but some form of 'weighting' of tariffs against other countries based on their performance relative to the standards that exist in this country would seem to make sense.
Of course, it may mean that goods from Sweden, or Germany, and other European countries would have to be given a negative tariff ...
Ain't gonna happen. Just a thought that crossed my mind ...
Dec 6th 2016, 9:00 am
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 10,115
Re: 2016 Election
I'll see if I can dig up the quote, but it may have been from one of his books that popped up in an article criticizing his business success. I remember it as along the lines of "If the builders come to me and say that it will cost $75M, I tell people that it will cost $100M, that way, when it's completed for $85M, I can claim that all my projects come in under budget, and I get awarded more contracts"
Dec 6th 2016, 9:05 am
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 10,115
Re: 2016 Election
Catching up on this thread after a short absence ...
On the subject of jobs moving overseas ... it does seem rather ironic that we continue to pass laws to improve the 'well-being' of 'the workers' in this country - in the form of minimum wage increases, overtime requirements, job safety requirements, requirements for healthcare, etc - but don't have a mechanism in place to penalize other countries that don't follow suite.
If we believe it to be morally imperative to implement such rules, then why don't we acknowledge that other countries are not doing these things, and somehow penalize them for it?
I realize it would be an impossibly complex system to design and implement, but some form of 'weighting' of tariffs against other countries based on their performance relative to the standards that exist in this country would seem to make sense.
Of course, it may mean that goods from Sweden, or Germany, and other European countries would have to be given a negative tariff ...
Ain't gonna happen. Just a thought that crossed my mind ...
On the subject of jobs moving overseas ... it does seem rather ironic that we continue to pass laws to improve the 'well-being' of 'the workers' in this country - in the form of minimum wage increases, overtime requirements, job safety requirements, requirements for healthcare, etc - but don't have a mechanism in place to penalize other countries that don't follow suite.
If we believe it to be morally imperative to implement such rules, then why don't we acknowledge that other countries are not doing these things, and somehow penalize them for it?
I realize it would be an impossibly complex system to design and implement, but some form of 'weighting' of tariffs against other countries based on their performance relative to the standards that exist in this country would seem to make sense.
Of course, it may mean that goods from Sweden, or Germany, and other European countries would have to be given a negative tariff ...
Ain't gonna happen. Just a thought that crossed my mind ...
If a factory has to give medical insurance, it can easily cost $5 an hour per worker. So if worker is hired in between $8.50 to $14 an hour, even with their higher productivity than a foreign worker making $3 an hour hard to compete- and a big element of productivity is the equipment used. If now the foreign factory getting newer equipment, and use of computers means software can be employed equally as well overseas, competition can get pretty tough for the American worker.
Maybe part of the problem is get control of medical costs once and for all.
Dec 6th 2016, 9:23 am
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Posts: 201
Re: 2016 Election
Let's say that he puts out tenders for his 'Wall', and the winning bid is $10B, but he publicly says that the wall will cost $15B. Even if, with overruns etc the final cost is $12B, don't you think the contractor will pad his costs to $14B? It still allows Trump to claim it's under his publicly announced budget (but well over the quoted cost), and it allows the contractor to make a massive profit. The downside is that $2B in padding (and that's taxpayer money) could have been used for other projects, rather than corporate interests. Multiply that over Steve Bannon's $1T infrastructure dream ....
Dec 6th 2016, 11:38 am
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Re: 2016 Election
I've never been a racist in any way and unlike yours my forefathers were the victims of some of the worst kind of racism and genocide that history has ever known... the Irish.
I wont say any more on this since enough feathers and sensitivities have been ruffled. I thought threads were open to different opinions but it seems not. Ill leave you to your rants against Trump. I didn't vote for him but he was elected. Accept it and move on. Whinging wont get anyone anywhere.
If you don't like Trump then take a plane back to jolly old England and whinge away about Brexit
I wont say any more on this since enough feathers and sensitivities have been ruffled. I thought threads were open to different opinions but it seems not. Ill leave you to your rants against Trump. I didn't vote for him but he was elected. Accept it and move on. Whinging wont get anyone anywhere.
If you don't like Trump then take a plane back to jolly old England and whinge away about Brexit
As far as Brexit goes, it concerns me very little, I don't live in he UK and don't at present intend to. Brexit does effect me quite negatively, in so much as my UK pension has been reduced, and it limits my escape options should a have to flee the US when it goes belly up.
Dec 6th 2016, 11:51 am
WTF?
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Posts: 79,449
Re: 2016 Election
I've never been a racist in any way and unlike yours my forefathers were the victims of some of the worst kind of racism and genocide that history has ever known... the Irish.
I wont say any more on this since enough feathers and sensitivities have been ruffled. I thought threads were open to different opinions but it seems not. Ill leave you to your rants against Trump. I didn't vote for him but he was elected. Accept it and move on. Whinging wont get anyone anywhere.
If you don't like Trump then take a plane back to jolly old England and whinge away about Brexit
I wont say any more on this since enough feathers and sensitivities have been ruffled. I thought threads were open to different opinions but it seems not. Ill leave you to your rants against Trump. I didn't vote for him but he was elected. Accept it and move on. Whinging wont get anyone anywhere.
If you don't like Trump then take a plane back to jolly old England and whinge away about Brexit
Who are you to tell anybody to 'go back to England' for any reason?
And why are you bringing up Trump as a reason for this poster to leave America? He didn't even mention Trump in the post you quoted.
You have been 'whinging' about being (allegedly) censored --- yet nobody has censored you at all on BE. You bitch and moan because you think somebody is trying to silence you --- yet you are trying to silence Mr. Woo.
And WTF do you know about Mr. Woo's ancestors? I thought you didn't make assumptions about people you talk to on the internet. Are you confused?
Sad.
Dec 6th 2016, 1:49 pm
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Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 65,493
Re: 2016 Election
WTF?
Who are you to tell anybody to 'go back to England' for any reason?
And why are you bringing up Trump as a reason for this poster to leave America? He didn't even mention Trump in the post you quoted.
You have been 'whinging' about being (allegedly) censored --- yet nobody has censored you at all on BE. You bitch and moan because you think somebody is trying to silence you --- yet you are trying to silence Mr. Woo.
And WTF do you know about Mr. Woo's ancestors? I thought you didn't make assumptions about people you talk to on the internet. Are you confused?
Sad.
Who are you to tell anybody to 'go back to England' for any reason?
And why are you bringing up Trump as a reason for this poster to leave America? He didn't even mention Trump in the post you quoted.
You have been 'whinging' about being (allegedly) censored --- yet nobody has censored you at all on BE. You bitch and moan because you think somebody is trying to silence you --- yet you are trying to silence Mr. Woo.
And WTF do you know about Mr. Woo's ancestors? I thought you didn't make assumptions about people you talk to on the internet. Are you confused?
Sad.
Dec 6th 2016, 1:56 pm
WTF?
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Location: Homeostasis
Posts: 79,449
Re: 2016 Election
It's also interesting that this is a topic at all. We've just come out of an extremely divisive election where one of the most incendiary topics was Trump's nationalistic position on immigration and immigrants. In Trump's America, some people feel free and licensed to say things like, "If you don't like it you can just leave."
Dec 6th 2016, 1:58 pm
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Posts: 6,035
Re: 2016 Election
Because the operating requirements for AF1 don't really allow for significant refits to be performed. To perform an upgrade to the hardware and wiring systems could take months, and AF1 has to be able to launch within minutes in the case of a crisis. As the plane accumulates miles, it starts to cost more and more to maintain.
Just look at owning a car - the first few years are relatively maintenance/repair free, but then comes a point where parts start to fail and the repair bills add up. On a plane you also have to worry about metal fatigue and cabin integrity, among other factors that don't translate to a car. There definitely comes a point in time when it doesn't make sense to pour more money into a car, and it's actually more cost effective to purchase new. Unfortunately with AF1, you can't go to a new plane store and pick one up the next day - they take years to manufacture. I read somewhere online today (unverified) that it costs $1B/year to maintain the current fleet of presidential transportation.
I agree that spending on the military in the US is rife with opportunities for improvements in efficiency. There are lots of reports of grifting and mismanagement of funds. It should also be noted that Trump has claimed that his construction projects are all under budget, because he over-inflates the budget to make himself look good at the end. He also has repeatedly said on the campaign trail that he would spend significant capital on arguably unnecessary military projects to help stimulate the economy and jobs (which has spurious correlation at best). All this likely means that even more taxpayer money is going to the Military Industrial Complex, for products that (hopefully) have limited value for the United States.
Just look at owning a car - the first few years are relatively maintenance/repair free, but then comes a point where parts start to fail and the repair bills add up. On a plane you also have to worry about metal fatigue and cabin integrity, among other factors that don't translate to a car. There definitely comes a point in time when it doesn't make sense to pour more money into a car, and it's actually more cost effective to purchase new. Unfortunately with AF1, you can't go to a new plane store and pick one up the next day - they take years to manufacture. I read somewhere online today (unverified) that it costs $1B/year to maintain the current fleet of presidential transportation.
I agree that spending on the military in the US is rife with opportunities for improvements in efficiency. There are lots of reports of grifting and mismanagement of funds. It should also be noted that Trump has claimed that his construction projects are all under budget, because he over-inflates the budget to make himself look good at the end. He also has repeatedly said on the campaign trail that he would spend significant capital on arguably unnecessary military projects to help stimulate the economy and jobs (which has spurious correlation at best). All this likely means that even more taxpayer money is going to the Military Industrial Complex, for products that (hopefully) have limited value for the United States.
Trump may just be grandstanding about the cancellation of Air Force One and that remains to be seen.
On the other hand it's about time someone put the blocks to Pentagon spending and purchasing agents issuing purchase orders for ball pein hammers that contractors are charging 50 bucks a kick for. Not an exaggeration. from time to time such horror stories emerge in the media and that's just a tiny little tip of the iceberg.
Dec 6th 2016, 2:03 pm
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Re: 2016 Election
Precisely.
It's also interesting that this is a topic at all. We've just come out of an extremely divisive election where one of the most incendiary topics was Trump's nationalistic position on immigration and immigrants. In Trump's America, some people feel free and licensed to say things like, "If you don't like it you can just leave."
It's also interesting that this is a topic at all. We've just come out of an extremely divisive election where one of the most incendiary topics was Trump's nationalistic position on immigration and immigrants. In Trump's America, some people feel free and licensed to say things like, "If you don't like it you can just leave."
Intolerance has no borders fer chissakes !!
Last edited by dc koop; Dec 6th 2016 at 2:32 pm.
Dec 6th 2016, 2:15 pm
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Posts: 6,035
Re: 2016 Election
WTF?
Who are you to tell anybody to 'go back to England' for any reason?
And why are you bringing up Trump as a reason for this poster to leave America? He didn't even mention Trump in the post you quoted.
You have been 'whinging' about being (allegedly) censored --- yet nobody has censored you at all on BE. You bitch and moan because you think somebody is trying to silence you --- yet you are trying to silence Mr. Woo.
And WTF do you know about Mr. Woo's ancestors? I thought you didn't make assumptions about people you talk to on the internet. Are you confused?
Sad.
Who are you to tell anybody to 'go back to England' for any reason?
And why are you bringing up Trump as a reason for this poster to leave America? He didn't even mention Trump in the post you quoted.
You have been 'whinging' about being (allegedly) censored --- yet nobody has censored you at all on BE. You bitch and moan because you think somebody is trying to silence you --- yet you are trying to silence Mr. Woo.
And WTF do you know about Mr. Woo's ancestors? I thought you didn't make assumptions about people you talk to on the internet. Are you confused?
Sad.
What does Mr Woo think I am? Some relic from South Africa's apartheid days?
He annoyed me considerably and I struck back. As for Trump, yes I suppose "Whinging Poms" have a right to vent their spleens in a democratic society
Dec 6th 2016, 2:28 pm
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Posts: 6,035
Re: 2016 Election
I am unapologetic of my dislike of Trump, I think he is a vile person. With no redeeming qualities.
As far as Brexit goes, it concerns me very little, I don't live in he UK and don't at present intend to. Brexit does effect me quite negatively, in so much as my UK pension has been reduced, and it limits my escape options should a have to flee the US when it goes belly up.
As far as Brexit goes, it concerns me very little, I don't live in he UK and don't at present intend to. Brexit does effect me quite negatively, in so much as my UK pension has been reduced, and it limits my escape options should a have to flee the US when it goes belly up.
