Let's be honest: Trump wants to just privatize the federal govt..

His goal:
-0 delivery of services
-0 competence
-0 support from the fed for the states or the people
-nothing but profits for his rich peeps like Musk
-tax the poor with tariffs so you can give tax cuts to billionaires
-blow a massive hole in our budget with more tax cuts that aren't paid for

his goal to abolish FEMA and the CDC says it all. can't wait for the next global warming clusterfuck storm or the next pandemic to arrive..

America thought Brownie was pathetic. just wait. this is gonna be funny..

it's going to take America a generation to recover from this admin, if it ever does..

"Privitize" the functions of government . . .such as outsourcing foreign aid away from the State Department to a plethora of NGOs?

"Privitize" the functions of government . . .such as outsourcing foreign aid away from the State Department to a plethora of NGOs? Originally Posted by ICU 812

Nope, that's the richest country in the world acting like a little biatch. those ngos work their asses off in some of the poorest countries in the world.

where were we after the recent earthquake in Myanmar? freakin no-shows. sad.

Nope, that's the richest country in the world acting like a little biatch. those ngos work their asses off in some of the poorest countries in the world.

where were we after the recent earthquake in Myanmar? freakin no-shows. sad. Originally Posted by pxmcc

And then we fired the people we did send. And I don’t think it’s Trump specifically that is looking to privatize Federal government but rather the people surrounding him pushing their own interests.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/usa...ys-2025-04-05/

BANGKOK, April 5 (Reuters) - Three U.S. aid workers were laid off while in Myanmar helping the rescue and recovery from the country's massive earthquake, a former senior staffer said, as the Trump administration's dismantling of foreign aid affects its disaster response.

After travelling to the Southeast Asian nation, the three officials were told late this week they would be let go, Marcia Wong, a former official at the U.S. Agency for International Development, told Reuters.

where were we after the recent earthquake in Myanmar? freakin no-shows. sad. Originally Posted by pxmcc

please enlighten me on why we should baby sit the world? I don't pay taxes to send money all around the world, we have enough issues here to tend to. Now if people want to go to foreign countries on their own dime, so be it. My BIL was a doctor and he and his son went to Indonesia or somewhere when they had a horrible tidal wave and earthquakes, and he gave his time and effort to help out those needing help, and I deeply admired him for this. However like I said, I want our tax dollars spent here.

first off, i hear where you are coming from, Dear_John. it's not a silly argument by any means.

but soft power is a thing, and real politik says we should use it. we always have used it, and it has always worked to our benefit. and if we don't use it, our enemies like China will.

one day we're pulling bodies from the rubble, and the next maybe we're offering to set up some military bases in Burma to counter China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran.

we didn't have to rebuild Japan after WWII. we could have said, "Look, you started this shit at Pearl Harbor, so we owe you exactly jack shit, all total. Enjoy the radiation."

did we do that? no. we pulled up our sleeves and went to work to help rebuild the cities that Truman evaporated. and who received the benefit? we did, and Japan did. in any WWIII scenario against the 4 enemy states i mentioned above, Japan is one of our most reliable allies, and potentially a military juggernaut that will keep China busy af in any Taiwan invasion scenario, giving our 11 carriers plenty of room to operate. (btw, this is no damn time to retire carriers.)

same with Greenland. instead of threatening this poor country with a military invasion, we could use soft power to improve their economy and standard of living. then we can say with a straight face, "hey Greenland, we hooked you up. is it cool if we add to your defensive positioning against thugs like China and Russia? i mean who's to say Russia won't invade you next like they did Ukraine?"

China has used soft power in Africa and South America totally to our detriment. we are sitting behind the 8 ball, while China has turned half of those countries into resource-producing slave states. we're asleep at the switch while China is busy as bees.

soft power costs a lot less than hard power and it's beneficial to us in terms of real politik. Trump has it all wrong.

but for sure, all props to Flying Physicians and other orgs working on straight charity. but charity doesn't pay the light bills or put food on the table for our ngos, who do great work around the world, just like the CDC. honestly, it's incredible that the CDC is even a part of government, they are so damn good. and Musk and Trump just kneecapped the CDC. terrible decision that will have mind-boggling ramifications for public health.

please enlighten me on why we should baby sit the world? I don't pay taxes to send money all around the world, we have enough issues here to tend to. Now if people want to go to foreign countries on their own dime, so be it. My BIL was a doctor and he and his son went to Indonesia or somewhere when they had a horrible tidal wave and earthquakes, and he gave his time and effort to help out those needing help, and I deeply admired him for this. However like I said, I want our tax dollars spent here. Originally Posted by DEAR_JOHN

Yes, to what pxmcc said ^^^. If we had done the same when the USSR fell, it would have cost us far less than what we have spent trying to contain Russia.

My biggest complaint about Bill Clinton. He squandered a golden opportunity.

How did Real Politik help us out? Its been draining our strength since they decided at the end of World War II to intertwine our economies. That was the idea. No one can start a war because we need each other but it turned out that no one can WIN a war. We fight to maintain the status quo because we need their oil, minerals, or whatever. Unless you're one of those families who loses someone or you come back so fucked up...where is the status quo for them. We farmed out our industry and stopped trying to amass resources because we're the big guy. We can smile while they screw us.

^^free trade is a pile of fuckery. Trump is actually on to something, but he lacks the competence to do anything about it. instead his knee-jerk decisions have led to the greatest loss of wealth in America since the worst of the pandemic. genius..

if you want to reshore, you've got to meet entrepeneurs where they're at. biden actually did that. trump, well, not so much..

Yes, to what pxmcc said ^^^. If we had done the same when the USSR fell, it would have cost us far less than what we have spent trying to contain Russia. Originally Posted by midvale

Actually we did. West Germany and Poland for example.

The European Union welcomed ten new Member States on 1 May, 2004, including three former Soviet republics (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), four former satellites of the USSR (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia), a former Yugoslav republic (Slovenia) and two Mediterranean islands (Cyprus and Malta). Bulgaria, Romania in 2007.

All of these countries have aligned themselves with western bloc nations because of the democratic and capitalist systems we fostered in the wake of ww2.

That’s a result of alliances and soft power.

Actually we did. West Germany and Poland for example.

The European Union welcomed ten new Member States on 1 May, 2004, including three former Soviet republics (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), four former satellites of the USSR (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia), a former Yugoslav republic (Slovenia) and two Mediterranean islands (Cyprus and Malta). Bulgaria, Romania in 2007.

All of these countries have aligned themselves with western bloc nations because of the democratic and capitalist systems we fostered in the wake of ww2.

That’s a result of alliances and soft power. Originally Posted by txdot-guy

You are correct. I meant we should have also helped the Russian people get on their feet also like we did the countries you mentioned.

Except the Soviet government froze us out.

I think he's talking about AFTER the Soviet Union fell.

I think he's talking about AFTER the Soviet Union fell. Originally Posted by Yssup Rider

Yes. Boris Yeltsin would have worked with us.