patrick.net

Big Tech is devouring the US Economy, pays no taxes, imposes globalony propaganda on the people, while demanding 100k's of H1Bs, acts as a Publisher while claiming to be an open forum, while pocketing billions upon billions in subsidies.

Not that the pentagon doesnt waste money...its the gov, of course it wastes money hand over fist.

However, there are things you, nor hardly anyone will EVER know that the military builds, designs, tests,etc.

And thats how its supposed to be when a government's SOLE purpose should be the protection of its citizens and their property.

Criticize the gov for spending willy nilly. Fine. But don't expect you'll account for even close to every penny. Unless you are fanatical about enemies knowing the next move.

Total US military spending is about $700B.

Total US medical spending is about $3,700B for comparison. That's about $11,280 for every single one of the 328M US citizens (I'm ignoring the 13M or so illegals so loved by employers).

So for a family of 4, that's about $45,120 in medical spending.

This is NUTS.

Medical spending alone is 45120 / 61000 = 74% of median household income.

It's not the military spending that's killing us. It's medical spending.

The solution is:

1. require presentation of all non-emergency bills in advance of treatment so people can shop around
2. set prices for emergency care by law to a reasonable amount
3. publicly funded Congressional campaigns, so people who are not on the take from the AMA and big pharma can get elected

healthcare spending is insane. those prices need to be fixed.

health insurance here in America costs so much, that it's literally cheaper to get a heart surgery in another country and not bother with insurance in America. America can't afford America, shit is super stupid right now.

All those government sissies who get 100% perfect government coverage, super entitled wusses, think it's fucking peaches in private sector. But it's not. Healthcare costs a ton these days.

Reminds me of a teacher union deal I had to work with. Fucking insane level of entitlement, those government farts think world is collapsing if they have to pay a $5 copay to visit a doctor, while their health insurance is 100% covered by taxpayers. No taxes will ever fulfill their lazy ass greed.

Same for all Rx's. Public pricing, and ability to buy from any FDA approved vendor. All Rx Vendors globally must pay for FDA Approval, including routine and surprise yearly audits. This covers FDA costs at no taxpayer expense. This would allow purchase from Canada or other countries. Use a two factor authentication system upon receipt of Rx to verify quality and supply chain.

https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/corrupt-obstruction-thursday-december

Math is hard, ya’ll. I know you’re going to be tempted to make mean jokes about our woke military generals, how the Pentagon lost a war with a calculator, and other stuff like that, but please try to be civil. A couple weeks ago, the Intercept ran an inglorious story (difficult to find anyplace in corporate media, for some reason), headlined “Pentagon Fails Sixth Audit in a Row, Claiming “Progress Sort of Beneath the Surface.”

The Pentagon has the largest budget of any federal agency — nearly a trillion dollars. Yet it has never passed a single annual audit mandated by Congress. In a recent press briefing, the Department of Defense frankly admitted it had no timeline for passing an audit.

Not ever. It’s too hard. It’s just no use.

“I’ll just say that we remain a trusted institution,” Pentagon comptroller Michael J. McCord optimistically forecast during a separate press briefing about the failed audit. “We’ve made a lot of progress to date.”

Reporters expressed skepticism about the “progress” part.

When asked by one reporter to say when the Pentagon expects to pass an audit, deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh said she can’t predict the future, but that when the Pentagon does pass, she would let them know.

I did not make that up. Or exaggerate. That’s literally what she said.

I know you’re feeling sorely tempted to analogize the Pentagon’s childlike inability to audit its own budget — a battle without any opponent — to the Pentagon’s inability to win a war against motivated, nuclear-armed opponents, but you shouldn’t make that analogy.

I’m not sure why you shouldn’t, since it seems like accounting for the money is so much easier of a job than winning wars. Plus you don’t have to kill anybody. If they can’t even do the simple stuff, how will they do the complicated parts?

But nevermind. Trust the narrative! Which is: the Pentagon’s absolute failure to account for the taxpayer money it gets for free despite having a virtually unlimited budget does not reflect the Pentagon’s overall ability level at all.

Patrick says

But nevermind. Trust the narrative! Which is: the Pentagon’s absolute failure to account for the taxpayer money it gets for free despite having a virtually unlimited budget does not reflect the Pentagon’s overall ability level at all.

It's kind of like "Yeah, the CIA and FIB were never audited, or systematically held to account for previous violations of civil liberties, incompetence, and political interference, but don't worry! That was in the past and they're not like that anymore." argument.

It would help if they wouldn't buy so much shit at triple the price. The GSA contractor price lists are fixed at over triple wholesale costs so it's the good old boys club who gets the order as long as it's a minority women owned business.