The GOP is the grievance party with no agenda beyond power

Personally, I'm not sure how accurate that is. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the only journalist I found to have said or wrote this is Judy Woodruff of PBS. And she said this off the cuff during PBS's coverage of the DNC, I believe.

The only other report of a call taking place between Trump and Netanyahu was apparently by Axios. I can't find the original article but it was then referenced by Reuters below.

https://www.aol.com/news/trump-netanyahu-speak-gaza-hostage-010253310.html

One of the two sources goes on to say he/she can't be sure but she believed Trump to have encouraged Netanyahu to take the deal, not delay it. Also, both Trump and Netanyahu denies the call to have taken place. So who knows at this point.

That then just leaves Judy Woodruff's comment. She is normally a pretty reliable journalist, so I'm really surprised she would just mention this so off-hand. And that no other follow-up story has taken place on what should be a big news story.

 

Yes because we have a premier annual spending budget - I mentioned that if the USA spent what a typical average country does at 7 percent (of its annual budget) instead of 11-13 percent then we would still have a super military but not at the level we currently have -

So that begs the question is this percentage appropriate?

BTW that percentage we have is typically agreed upon by both political parties over the last 40 years ( it only went astronomically high in 1987 ) so I will consider that to be an appropriate percentage level per intellectual expertise by leaders that appropriate such a decision...you are free to choose to NOT acquiesce at that percentage level but it has been at that level given the annual federal budget by experts in the area and where the government chooses to be as far as a competitive edge as it relates to other world powers

 

It turns out that Woodruff did apologize for her comments. Never mind, then.

https://apnews.com/article/pbs-woodruff-israel-gaza-apology-578b61c242332439d0064cce9090ff15

 

As the cliche goes, democracy is a messy system ...but it's better than all the alternatives. So to address this small government dream, the actual results don't ferret that out. The actual results are that America is far and away the strongest economy in the world. Could America be more efficient? Of course. On the other hand, it's worked out okay so far.

Which country would you rather trade places with right now?

...and Government is not business. People need to stop making that comparison. Government and business are fundamentally different apparatus with different objectives.

 

If it weren't for the fact that everything is poisonous in Australia, I would live there, but everything is poisonous and wants to kill me so no.

New Zealand seems nice though.

 

I recall New Zealand was offering incentives to relocate US citizens after the GWB election. Seems nice. Plus I can hang out with hobbits!

My question is which government has done it better than the US? Who can we point to and say, yea, they got it right. Cause by ANY measure, the US out performs every country on earth in virtually every category. Do we have some areas with room for improvement? Obviously. But America dominates.
US has the strongest:
1. Economy
2. Defense
3. Entertainment Industry
4. Technology Innovation
5. Business climate
6. GDP
7. Athletics
8. Healthcare Innovation
9. University system

I could go on.

This "small government" mindset, that ship has sailed and the proof is in the pudding. Similar, we should "run government like a business" is misguided. CentrePoint is run like a business. Is that what good looks like? The purpose of business is to earn a profit and squash the competition. Government should create a predictable and level playing field and foster competition. Fundamentally, not the same.

 

Canada?

DD

 

You like the cold? Yikes

 

Btw great and informative feedback - I can understand disagreement with running government like a business because quite obviously government is not a business -

Government is as my college professor once told me is simply who gets: what, when, where and how ...
there is after all such a thing as "too many cooks in the kitchen" - running government like a business doesn't mean believing government is a business, it's simply applying what works and making equivalence where it may apply -

Generally, private sector organizations have a much better understanding of the skills, knowledge and abilities their employees possess. Human capital management professionals in both the private and public sectors are regularly tasked with filling jobs. However, the private sector differs in its approach, in that businesses seek to understand the actual work that is required that warrants an open head count.

They are not constrained by barriers such as title, department, or functions, and can be creative in terms of exploring if the role can be redefined, titles changed, and/or responsibilities divided among the existing workforce.

It’s less about filling an open headcount and more about finding the person or people with the right skills who can successfully take on the work
https://www.govtech.com/biz/data/what-government-can-learn-from-the-private-sector-about-ai

Smaller government works when the public sector cross examines itself with the private sector and makes appropriate recommendations based on what the private sector does better

- it shouldn't be a case of a branch for a given federal public sector should never sample from private sector success just because "you shouldn't run the government like a business" that's not the point -
The point is to make necessary changes which makes federal spending have greater productivity and results for the given budgetary allotment... One thing successful business does right is it continuously self reflects and reevaluates what works and what determines efficiency on a continuous basis - Government spending should do the same thing

 

Australia has one of the longest life expectancies in the world, higher than New Zealand’s. If your worried about staying alive Australia is a more than fine choice.

 

I appreciate the small government mindset. I remember a professor teaching that every institutional body is like a living organism. Its only job is to survive and grow stronger. With governments, it becomes bureacracy where given an amount of limited resources, the annual budget becomes "use it or lose it."

That's where the administrative layer and sprawl comes from. Happens in large companies too, though their reaction time is quicker if they want to survive. It's just that when Cons take roost in the halls of power, the public servants appointed by the President don't "lose it", they build gaudy offices and try to expense private jets for personal vacations with their families and mistresses.

It's sickening to see hypocrites making Small Government a platform while cynically acting with the fact that their political success is to make Big Government Fail and foster public distrust in the services they were elected to clean up.

Small Government can work at smaller scales. Cities are far more efficient and resilient than a typical multinational corporation that goes bust within 15-20 years(...at least it would've gone bust now if the government wouldn't bail them out).
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bigger-cities-do-more-with-less/

It's just built differently with different priorities and doesn't have to handle regional issues a multinational or large country like the US has.

With that in mind, you'd think a corporation is leaner and more efficient than a Big Government like the US, but our current mindset for running corps is pure profit for shareholders, insiders, and mega-megawhale pension/sovereign funds.

No employee in their right mind thinks a company will take care of them from cradle to grave, but we want countries to be More Like Walmart? When are Cons going to introduce the idea of hiring and firing citizens and give them the right to move to a better employer?

It's a totally flawed model of scale (quantity, landmass, organizational structure, mission statement) and an unknown fronteir where we need something like AI or big data to figure out a better solution.

 

Just have to keep your head on a swivel lol

 

This is something people don't understand. The goal of a private business is to be as anti-fair to its competitors as legally possible. Their goal is to beat everyone else around them. A government literally has the exact opposite goals.

They have diametrically opposite goals.

 

My wife is pushing for a trip to Melbourne next year to see the Australian open.
I told her I'm good with Wimbledon or the French open.
I just would not be able to sleep knowing that a brown snake might slither in. Potentially flanked by an Australian funnel web spider.

I'm an American Express Delta sky miles member and funny enough New Zealand is one of the more reasonable places to trade points in for the trip.

 

I love Canada. Been all over. I could personally live there (and may).

But if I'm on the playground and picking my dodgeball team, I'm picking the US first every time. Zero chance I'm picking Canada on my team.

In terms of running a country, the US is the best. There might be other pleasant places to live or visit but that's not my hypothetical question. As a nation, who's done it best? The only historical comparison might be ancient Greece or Ottoman Empire but the US more globally influential than those empires. But it's also like compariing Hakeem with Jokic. Comparing across eras is hard. But as it stands today, there is no competition.

So to the naysayer folks, the American results are second to none.

 

Don’t sleep on the Phoenicians

 

Guys, there hasn't been a spider death in Australia since 1979, and they only average 2 deaths from snakes per year, in a country of 25 million with tons of tourism. These rates are not significantly different from the rates in the US. Also, Australia averages about 2 deaths a year from lightning strikes, which roughly equals the combined annual rate of spider+snake deaths. Thats how rare it is.

The idea that there is some sort of considerable risk from wildlife is well, well, well overstated by too many people, especially if one is planning to hang out in an urban center like Melbourne. Don't let the silliness block a good time fellas.

 

the real threat to democracy

 

You mean 1979, as in 8pm? So somebody died LAST NIGHT from a spider death. Jesus. How are there any people there at all? They must have a crazy high birth rate. Well, there's a silver lining. Somebody needs to keep seeding all those babies.

 

Alrighty then

Go with your wife to the open, IMO.

In response to this which I just caught

The US lags in many median well-being/quality of life statistics amongst highly developed countries. Life expectancy, crime, and poverty are the 3 major categories.

One of the most upsetting examples to me is our infant and maternal mortality rates which are flat-out shameful considering our wealth as a nation.