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When tax cuts are given out to wealthy Americans, do politicians worry that those people will waste the money? Or do they just let the free market decide how the money will be spent.

Thanks, I'll add that to top of my list. Child care, SNAP or any other food support, and health care are things that will help raise up the working poor. Just handing out cash, as was done during the pandemic, is both inflationary in the long term and counter productive from day one. Surely tools that will help pull up the working poor from the margins of society or make it possible for single parents to at least nourish and educate the next generation are sensible investments in society.

If only brent did a bit more math and reading, huh? And my point about "argumentum ad populum" just went completely over his head. But he doesn't even read his own links so I guess that was completely predictable

Poland is anxious to give their MIG-29's to Ukraine. They have something like 44 with 30 flying. They are planning on replacing them with F-35's. Poland is a long time NATO partner. I see no downside to putting 30 F-16's flown by Americans in Poland to facilitate the transfer. That would be the fastest way to give Ukraine air power, seems to me.

Yep. UBI is a good idea but it's not practical. It would do far more harm than good, for the reasons listed above, as well as several others: -Inflation -Support of drug use -Alteration of the economy I would support something like an expanded WIC program, where the very basics (certain kinds of food, rent at specific shelters, medical care below a threshold) was provided. No money. There are still ways to abuse that program, but it will happen far less often.

Well, as an outsider looking in, I would say that for a non democracy you guys sure make a big deal out of your elections.

And I didn't see the word "gun" anywhere in the Second Amendment. So much for the right to own guns. Have a nice day!

What I enjoyed was that of the 20 examples a full 50% were Texans: Fireworks, Condoms, even a Tattoo, gotta the Lone Star State.

Last week I sat in at USPA Examiner Standardization Meeting immediately after the Parachute Industry Symposium in Reno, Nevada. The room was pretty "heavy" with UPT Sigma Examiners, but I seemed to be the only Strong Tandem Instructor Examiner in the room. Civilians still need a minimum of 500 jumps, 3 years in the sport, USPA Coach rating, etc. before they can attend a Sigma Instructor Certification Course. However, the US military is training military tandem instructors with as few as 200 solo jumps. I first heard of the practice with Alaska Air National Guard search and rescue jumpers jumping with tandem bundles 20 years ago. Mind you, the military has a mentoring program to get their skills up to speed before the Tandem Instructor Certification Course. IOW prospective military tandem instructors must complete a series of exercises before ... I suspect that "200 jump wonders" are restricted to jumping with 500 pound bundles for "X" number of jumps before they are allowed to jump with humans strapped to their chest. The USPA meeting also emphasized the importance of mentoring junior tandem instructors during the first 150 jumps after they earn their ratings because it can take up to 150 jumps before they develop their own "flow" and get comfortable in the tandem instructor's harness. It looks like the good-old-days of simply assigning a TI rating, then sending them off to work alone are falling out of fashion. One advantage these days is the proliferation of video which makes monitoring TIs in Fiji much easier. The disadvantage is that examiners don't have to travel to Fiji for a week. Hah! Hah! May I suggest that you contact my old friend: Niklas Gummeson in California (Gummeson Consulting, [email protected], telephone 386-848-8547)? I have known Niklas for 30 years and our paths have crossed many times. Niklas is a Sigma Examiner often trains military tandem instructors in both the wind tunnel and freefall? UPT can probably recommend another half-dozen Sigma Examiners who also train soldiers how to jump with tandem bundles. Does that answer your question?

My wife (MD) was an emergency FEMA doc after Katrina. She says that her services were greatly in demand, essential, and paid for with relief money. So your statement is false.

If neighborhood dogs are shitting in peoples yards, pretty much 100% of people would be against it and want it to stop. Also, pretty much 100% of people wouldn't want to pay more tax to solve the problem. In fact, pretty much 100% of people would want the people whose dogs are shitting in yards to pay for the cleanup before they ever get handed a bill. Now, just like Superfund sites, sometimes the perpetrators can not be brought to justice soon enough and the problem is big enough that people are forced to pay for the problem. With Climate Change I think most people do not think we are there yet because the responsible parties are available and have loads of profits from causing the problem to help pay for the solution.

We already provide a basic income to the southern red states, that’s not enough? I am not a fan of it on a state by state level. Better to have national programs like the soon to be evicerated SNAP program. Or maybe a national health plan to relieve financial burdens. Get there and if we still need a dole then maybe.

My concern is that all of those at the bottom of society will get exploited to the tune of their entire UBI, end up in exactly the same position, and those higher up the ladder will just get richer. As an example, a landlord will know the tenant has a guaranteed 1k, so will up his rent because he knows there is some guaranteed income every month. In concept, I think UBI is the right answer, because it probably costs less and is far easier to administer than any welfare scheme. Unfortunately in order for it to really work you probably need UHC as well.

Part 42 p 290-294