Trump cabinet selections and appointments

Oh I have plenty of worries about Trump's infrastructure project ideas. They are boondoggles.

I'm talking about removing government constraints to free up capital for the private sector to build and produce.

 

I don't understand why you'd want to cut funding on research that actually benefits this country. I know you have this thing against Global Warming and think it's a conspiracy but even ignoring that you're also cutting funding towards better particle accelerators which are in almost every hospital nowadays worldwide. PET scanners, MRI scanners are all responsible for improving healthcare worldwide and it comes in part from research done by the DOE and other like minded entities. Through funding like this they're working on a new form of cancer treatment even better than radiation therapy that will affect even less healthy tissue when targeting malignant tumors. It's funding towards things like particle accelerators that have led to the advent of smartphones, and better computers.

It's like when we had the opportunity to build our own version of the LHC here in Texas even and instead it went to Geneva. The engineers there had to build a better way to transmit data and came up with an even more efficient version of the internet. In the next decade or two it will eventually hit the consumer market benefitting us all. But it's from cutting edge research on projects which the DOE funds that lead to that type of innovation that's better for everyone. And you want to cut that budget? Because you think Global Warming is a conspiracy? Seems like it'd do more harm to this nation than benefit it. Furthermore I think it would just drive our best and brightest further away from this nation than welcome them in. I mean it's from scientific research that we live longer, live cushier lives and even have the ability to transmit messages to one another on this forum. I don't get why you'd want to cut funding on research that leads to innovation like this. Makes no sense.





These two videos are a bit lengthy but it's just the latest and greatest in scientific innovation and discussion about particle accelerators in the future.

 

The human genome is complicated. You'd want a lot of people working on it. The days of a single scientist making a huge breakthrough are over. It takes almost a global concerted effort by many research institutions to make further innovations that'll benefit everyone. Over a 100 years ago when the electron was discovered, no one thought it would be useful. Look where we are today because of research. The thing is no scientist back then in pursuit of finding out more about the universe had the thought of better technological innovation for all when they dove into research projects like this. It's just a love for figuring out the unknown. Innovation comes later.

 

This type of rabbit trail government waste is the problem. Every single agency in the government can find a problem or string of problems that lead to another and another...and it's easy to say that the work they are doing is good stuff but, the Department of Energy should not be in the business of genetic research. I'm sure there is a perfectly good department in the government for doing genetic research... in fact I'm sure there are hundreds of them and that is the problem. So, I'm not saying this one is any better or worse than another, but as a taxpayer I have to wonder if my dollars are being spent efficiently.

 

So you don't care about corporate tax cuts that don't benefit the lower and middle class but you care about government funding research towards better understanding human DNA which benefits us all? It's human genome research that's put us in this debt? Is that my understanding?

 

What the heck are you talking about? I have no problems with better understanding human DNA.

Ending wasteful government spending has just as much of a chance of benefiting the lower and middle class as do corporate tax dollars. It would just be up to our benevolent government to see fit to use those extra dollars in a manner that would benefit the lower and middle class... I don't have faith that they will but you obviously do.

 

Hopefully that money going toward research can go to something more efficient like.... building a wall....

 

Heck yeah, maybe we can add onto the one that Bill Clinton built.

 

Well, if you put it that way... I have to suspect you don't want the government to spend money on genetics research in any of its departments.

I think we're going to have to agree to disagree. I'll concede to you that there probably is wasteful spending in there somewhere with various agencies all digging into the Human Genome Project and other things. But I also think spending, even at a premium, is the key to our country's edge over competitors and I don't really want to see that capability stripped by ideologues.

 

Then why do you want to cut funding on the human genome? You mention it's wasteful government spending without knowing anything about the budget the DOE gives or how much is allocated or what the rate of return on interest in investments like these are. You just got worked at the idea of government research spending that goes towards the human genome and your immediate reaction is to slash the budget on it. It's not like if we're ever caught in a nuclear war, we'd want to know the effects of radiation on the human DNA and how to possibly stop it.

Scientific research leads to innovation that benefits all, including the lower and middle class. It generally results in new technologies, creating more jobs benefitting large corporations that make the early investment in those new technologies.

Wasteful government spending comes more from backing tax abatements to give big companies so they'll build plants in cities where jobs are needed. Ultimately you end up giving so many tax credits for the proposed jobs these plants will create that it ends up becoming inefficient.

http://www.workersdefense.org/wp-co...mise-of-the-Texas-Miracle-compressed-file.pdf

Again take for example Samsung's semiconductor plant in Austin. It cost Texas taxpayers over $300,000 per job that was created. And those jobs initially started out were at the federal minimum wage level. So you created 800 jobs with 550 of them at the minimum wage level while having taxpayers fork over $321 million towards big companies like Samsung for those jobs. The way tax abatements are set up is a joke. Because cities like San Antonio, Dallas and Houston try and outbid each other so companies like Samsung will choose them. These outbids come from Texas taxpayers who are raising the price on themselves by deciding which city a power plant is going to go to. That's inefficient. That's a waste of tax dollars. And when you consider the Texas Constitution requires Texas remain under budget it really makes our use of tax dollars even more precious. There's even less room for error with an inefficient use of our budget.

You seriously thought our government is trying to harvest people as an energy source ala the matrix. I really hope you're joking.

 

No, we actually do need to spend a considerable amount on infrastructure considering it's been neglected and this country has grown quite a bit population wise.

Free up capital? Since 2008 interest rates have been at zero on top of QE..... We've been swimming in cheap and easy money.... Seems you got the issue backwards.

 

I'm sorry your not understanding but I don't have any problem with the government spending money on genetics research...

The DOE is not the place for genetics research. The problem is not the research it's the fact that every government agency does this kind of thing. We create an agency for one thing and the next thing you know they are doing EVERYTHING, just like every other agency. Nobody could run a business like this because it would be bankrupt. I don't see why people aren't pissed that their government wastes their money like this.

really... you want to understand the effects of nuclear war on DNA... ok.

The tax returns on those investments will go on and on and on.. there is a reason why TX is kicking everyone else's butts and people are moving here in droves.

Yes it's a joke.

 

delete

 

If we're allowing government to spend money on genetics research, I still disagree that it should be confined to the "appropriate" agency. There is a robustness advantage in diversity. In this case, you have a diversity of interests in the subject of genetics research. The DOE will make sure advancements address their needs where it comes to impacts of radiation. The CDC might focus on genetics for the prevention or treatment of disease. The FDA may be mostly interested in risks of genetically modified foods while the USDA might be concerned about the benefits for making better crops. If you give the whole thing to, say, the NIH, they'll make sure they take of the things they want, and they might do some things to cater to the DOE, but they won't have the perspective or the priority list that the DOE has. And the same for every other agency. So the robustness won't be there. We'll have blinders on because the DOE won't have the mandate to go and get the research it thinks it needs to fulfill its mission.

Businesses can and do run this way. In an old job, I did competitive intelligence research that focused on the companies most like us in the industry and what they did at a corporate level. We had another team that did competitive intelligence that focused more on certain competitors that were not like us. Another team looked at both at a tactical sales level. They were all competitive intelligence, but they were run by different parts of the company with different goals in mind. Could we have combined them into one team? It wouldn't have been smart because to do so would have broken connections with one or more of the sponsors and removed the institutional knowledge that made the work impactful. But, the 3 teams did talk to each other, learn from each other, and collaborate together. We didn't think it was a waste of money, we found a lot of advantage in it. Are there corporate dysfunctions with repetition of duties -- sure. And, it probably happens double in government. But, it's too simplistic to say on whatever subject you can name there should be only one agency involved. Instead, I think you should have a defined mission and mandate for each agency (and they have them), and give them freedom within their budget to do the things they think they need to do to fulfill the mission. If Perry, in his wisdom as Secretary of Energy, wants to stop DOE involvement in the Human Genome Project, I'm totally fine with it. Maybe they don't need it in order to ensure America's security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions. But the focus should be on fulfilling their mission and not some disassociated idea that anything the DOE does better have the word 'energy' in the title, or some political mantra that all DOE spending on research is wasteful because Solyndra. The absolutism is not helpful, imo.

 

Yes you really do want to understand the effects of radiation on DNA. You know kind of like those tsunami's that affected the Japanese nuclear reactors. We ended up sending mass shipments of sodium iodide to prevent radiation. Research led to that conclusion that sodium iodide combats radiation poisoning.

You'd also want to understand how radiation affects DNA medically as well since it's a method we use to kill cancer cells.

As far as people moving in droves here, it also has to do with the fact that so many Texans are uneducated for the type of jobs people outside of the state are filling. So you got people with a good education applying for work in Texas that many native Texans aren't even qualified for. We got 4.8 million people in our state living below the poverty level which is more than half of the rest of the U.S. states combined. We have the worst health care among all 50 states. People outside of Texas are benefitting a great deal but many native Texans are not. Our government spends almost 2 billion annually in tax subsidies for corporations to create jobs that aren't even giving competitive wages and benefits. We're one of the least educated states in the nation. We got so many dumb people in this state that even if they wanted to work jobs that gave competitive wages, they couldn't even apply because they lack the credentials.

It's great to be a big business in Texas. Not so much unless you got an education.

 

Texas jobs for Texans! No more Californians taking Texans' jobs! Make Texas great again!

 

I agree with the above but an agency should contract a research group within the proper government structure or a 3rd party to do the research they need done, not create a department within the agency to do it. A software company doesn't start a construction company when it needs a new building.

Texas is just like anywhere else in a free market society, jobs go to those people that make the necessary effort to improve themselves to a point where they are marketable. You can't blame the job creator for not getting a person hired, you blame the person for not making themselves qualified for the job.

In this country you have a chance to change your status but not everyone takes that opportunity and there are no participation trophies. Well I guess there are some... the poverty level in the US $23k/year or so puts you in the top 10% in the world. If you make $50k/year(US median) you are a one percenter.

 

So you'd you rather just give tax cuts to big businesses (because they really need help ) instead of actually helping native Texans that are struggling. Got it. It's not that Texans don't work hard because unemployment is low in this state. It's not that. They just don't make the efforts to improve themselves like you said. Did it ever occur to you that maybe it's tough to improve yourself in this state with the way taxpayer money is allocated?

 

Squirrel!

Yes, I would rather give tax cuts to businesses to get them to locate here rather than having them locate somewhere else.

Working hard and improving yourself are two completely separate things. There are lots of people that work hard all their lives and are perfectly happy where they are at. There is nothing wrong with that.

 

The propaganda/ voodoo religion is strong with this one so he ignores real world experience since 1980.