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Grading the Bugle Boys (and girls)


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20 minutes ago, sanjoseDCfan said:

 Accountability and Government 3rd Party Oversight is of course a good thing to be certain our tax dollars are being spent prudently and efficiently... especially given today's times when the Fed. Gov't has mismanaged our tax dollars to the inexcusable current levels of 19 trillion dollars of overspending Fed. Gov't debt. That said, this article does not yet explain WHO will be evaluating these Military Bands, nor what the " standard evaluation " criteria on evaluating all these Military Bands will be. I suppose that'll all come out later in further reporting, but right now, that remains unclear from a quick read of this article. But I guess its a fair assessment to conclude that all these Military Bands are on notice now to either shape up, or ship out.

Edited by BRASSO
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3 hours ago, sanjoseDCfan said:

Something to discuss in the off season....

 

3 hours ago, BRASSO said:

 Accountability and Government 3rd Party Oversight is of course a good thing to be certain our tax dollars are being spent prudently and efficiently... especially given today's times when the Fed. Gov't has mismanaged our tax dollars to the inexcusable current levels of 19 trillion dollars of overspending Fed. Gov't debt. That said, this article does not yet explain WHO will be evaluating these Military Bands, nor what the " standard evaluation " criteria on evaluating all these Military Bands will be. I suppose that'll all come out later in further reporting, but right now, that remains unclear from a quick read of this article. But I guess its a fair assessment to conclude that all these Military Bands are on notice now to either shape up, or ship out.

Watch this: http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Close to $(20,000,000,000,000) in U.S. National Debt and close to a whopping $(68,000,000,000,000) in Total U.S. Debt as of this posting and growing at around $(4,000) per/sec for the National Debt and an astounding rate of around $(50,000) per/sec in Total Debt!.  We are way beyond taxation and budget proposals fixing this.  Many things which are non-vital across all spectrum of government have to, must be, eliminated or China, which backs a lot of our debt, will sink our country like the Titanic (by the way, it was not the Iceberg that actually created the problem, that was the end result; it was the arrogance prior to setting sail which placed them in the position to hit the iceberg and the arrogance on board the ship to continue thinking that it would not sink).  United States Military Personnel defending us from the likes of North Korea and ISIS, Vital.  But while there is indeed an importance to Military Musical Ensembles, I defy anyone to tell me that they are in the category of being Vital when placed in the context of our spiraling out of control spending.  Unless, of course, you desire to have the band play on while our country goes down like the Titanic.

Edited by Stu
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53 minutes ago, Stu said:

<snip>or China, which backs a lot of our debt, will sink our country like the Titanic <snip>  

I agree with most of your post, except this.

China doesn't back any of our debt, and they have little to no incentive at all to "sink our country".

It's just. not. true.

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I wonder if anyone knows if The Commandant's Own is self-funding and self-sufficient? 

I ask because we looked into inviting them to perform at our show and the cost was unbelievable!  Besides paying for all travel and expenses, there was a $5000 fee laid on top!  It was going to cost us around $40,000 to have them play our dinky little show.

Or maybe they just don't like Buckeyes or something.

 

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33 minutes ago, garfield said:

I agree with most of your post, except this.

China doesn't back any of our debt, and they have little to no incentive at all to "sink our country".

It's just. not. true.

Gar: I respect you, and know that you are a person of finance. But, according to a plethora of financial news sources, as well as the governmental accounting office, the U.S. Debt to China in the form of Treasury Bills, Notes, and Bonds is over $1,000,000,000,000; which is 28% of U.S. debt owed to foreign countries.  It is just not in China's best interest, at this juncture, to foreclose on that trillion. So, unless there is some sleight of hand financial institution spin and a wacky way to see this beyond basic common financial sense, they do indeed secure over a trillion of our national debt.  But, I am open to your explanation that the trillion in debt to China is just not true.

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Wow. Some intelligent finance/economics commentary on DCP. (And someone sounds vaguely libertarian.) I've goosebumps.

I agree with both of you. It is possible to say China owns significant US debt. It's also possible to say the link from that to sinking the US economy is a weak one. Partly because of incentives. Partly because of how the markets would work.

Would hate to see the military bands go. But it's that kind of bogus, wimpy thinking (my own) that leads to so many thousands of unnecessary items financed by tax dollars and debt.

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2 hours ago, garfield said:

I wonder if anyone knows if The Commandant's Own is self-funding and self-sufficient? 

I ask because we looked into inviting them to perform at our show and the cost was unbelievable!  Besides paying for all travel and expenses, there was a $5000 fee laid on top!  It was going to cost us around $40,000 to have them play our dinky little show.

Or maybe they just don't like Buckeyes or something.

 

The way I understand the regulations is that Military Units, when providing services for military functions and certain recruitment events for the military, the tax-payer foots the bill. But when the units are requested to do something for a civilian function (like what you requested from the performing ensemble or say when NASCAR gets a Military fly-over for the National Anthem), the civilian entity making the request foots the bill not the tax-payers.

Edited by Stu
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4 hours ago, Stu said:

Gar: I respect you, and know that you are a person of finance. But, according to a plethora of financial news sources, as well as the governmental accounting office, the U.S. Debt to China in the form of Treasury Bills, Notes, and Bonds is over $1,000,000,000,000; which is 28% of U.S. debt owed to foreign countries.  It is just not in China's best interest, at this juncture, to foreclose on that trillion. So, unless there is some sleight of hand financial institution spin and a wacky way to see this beyond basic common financial sense, they do indeed secure over a trillion of our national debt.  But, I am open to your explanation that the trillion in debt to China is just not true.

 

I knew this would ##### your bubble.  LOL, it's getting too easy, Stu. (EDIT: What, can't say #####?  OK, how about "pop your bubble" then?)

First, it's what you said.  Literally, the words you used.  China does not "back" our debt, WE back our debt.  China OWNS some of our debt.

And to the notion that our obligation is something to be concerned about, let's put it in this context:  The July U.S. trade deficit with China was, roundly, $44billion.  Annually, that's over $500billion.  So how's about if we simply stop buying $44Bil in useless junk from China for 2 1/2 years and we'll call it even?

China's economy is not developed enough to absorb all of the manufacturing it's now producing.  By some estimates, they're two generations away from having a middle class sizable enough to replace their sales to just the U.S., not to mention the rest of the world.  If they demand we pay off our debt to them, we'll simply capitalize a portion of the $4trillion on the balance sheet of the Federal Reserve and pay them off.  Then we'll institute trade sanctions that will choke their economy into recession and likely end with saber-rattling renegotiation of trade agreements that have allowed China to cheat and steal from the U.S. - in front of our watching eyes - for decades.

I agree: defund every nickel on every program not absolutely necessary (good luck getting agreement on that), including military bands, to get the books under control.  Then make new decisions about what programs to fund.

But don't hold out that we are smitten to our debt-holders to exercise our responsibilities and balance our books; if the $65-trillion in unfunded obligations isn't enough to get the American people to rise up with pitchforks (until now :-)), making China the $1-trillion bogey-man out to crash our economy isn't even going to register among the football mascot cheers now rising.

Want to keep military musicians employed?  Do one thing: eliminate income tax payroll withholding and force everyone to write a check to the IRS for their income taxes due by April 15th each year (or quarterly, it doesn't matter).  Those musicians will be tenured inside one Washington administration cycle.

 

Edited by garfield
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2 hours ago, garfield said:

I knew this would ##### your bubble.  LOL, it's getting too easy, Stu. (EDIT: What, can't say #####?  OK, how about "pop your bubble" then?)

First, it's what you said.  Literally, the words you used.  China does not "back" our debt, WE back our debt.  China OWNS some of our debt.

And to the notion that our obligation is something to be concerned about, let's put it in this context:  The July U.S. trade deficit with China was, roundly, $44billion.  Annually, that's over $500billion.  So how's about if we simply stop buying $44Bil in useless junk from China for 2 1/2 years and we'll call it even?

China's economy is not developed enough to absorb all of the manufacturing it's now producing.  By some estimates, they're two generations away from having a middle class sizable enough to replace their sales to just the U.S., not to mention the rest of the world.  If they demand we pay off our debt to them, we'll simply capitalize a portion of the $4trillion on the balance sheet of the Federal Reserve and pay them off.  Then we'll institute trade sanctions that will choke their economy into recession and likely end with saber-rattling renegotiation of trade agreements that have allowed China to cheat and steal from the U.S. - in front of our watching eyes - for decades.

I agree: defund every nickel on every program not absolutely necessary (good luck getting agreement on that), including military bands, to get the books under control.  Then make new decisions about what programs to fund.

But don't hold out that we are smitten to our debt-holders to exercise our responsibilities and balance our books; if the $65-trillion in unfunded obligations isn't enough to get the American people to rise up with pitchforks (until now :-)), making China the $1-trillion bogey-man out to crash our economy isn't even going to register among the football mascot cheers now rising.

Want to keep military musicians employed?  Do one thing: eliminate income tax payroll withholding and force everyone to write a check to the IRS for their income taxes due by April 15th each year (or quarterly, it doesn't matter).  Those musicians will be tenured inside one Washington administration cycle.

 

Yep, you know how to get me to respond! Words do have meaning, and I did use the incorrect word. And I thank you for that clarification! I am also glad you brought up the 65-trillion, a figure I added to my previous post. That is the real total we should be d*** concerned about.

I did aknowledge that China at this juncture cannot call in what we owe, but at some point the devil will have to be paid his due and I was just using China as an example. Also they make the stuff, we buy and consume the stuff. That is another awful financial situation for us! Anyway, it is true that they own more than $1,000,000,000,000 of our debt.

Defunding non-essential non-vital Federal programs would actually be rather easy, but would also destroy the livelyhood of career politicians. Here is how easy it is: If it ain't specifically addressed in the Federal Constitution, drop it from Federal support; and leave all else as 10th Amendment issues for the States to deal with. And for those of you now screaming 'General Welfare' is in in the Constitution, please use due diligence and research what the drafters of the Constitution actually meant by that phrase!!!

I also agree that the payroll deduction should be eliminated and we should have to write checks to pay taxes. That in of itself would be a whack in the face wake up call to many.

Edited by Stu
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