We Can't Afford To Be Everywhere Forever

[jwoodie]

Praising with faint damnation? You seem to agree with the historical analogies but attribute the declines to "overextension." Should Rome has remained a small city-state? Should England have remained an island fiefdom? Where would you draw the line? The world today would be much less civilized without their imperial influences. And both were brought down insufficient resolve to confront external threats, attempting to appease their enemies while providing ever greater amounts of food and circuses to the masses.

P.S. Your idyllic conception of the Dark Ages is almost comical. Pax Romanica was replaced with nearly continuous warfare throughout Europe. Perhaps you have confused it with the Renaissance?

Continually invading and occupying the far reaches of the globe tends to get expensive, and since those campaigns are funded by exploiting not only your own citizens, but those you've conquered, it tends to create resentment that leads to revolutions that cost money to put down and on and on the cycle goes.

Top 10 Reasons The Dark Ages Were Not Dark - Listverse

Which is not to say the "Dark Ages" were wonderful and everything was joyous. Merely that they're often simply dismissed with no historical basis whatsoever.

LOL, Fantastic Weather?

So nothing then?

Byzantine Golden Age? "In the Byzantine empire during this period we saw a massive outpouring of books – encyclopedias, lexicons, and anthologies. While they did not create a lot of new thinking, they solidified and protected for the future much of what was already known." Whoopee.

Right, progress of civilization. What a bunch of losers.

Is a complete sentence hiding in there?

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

Continually invading and occupying the far reaches of the globe tends to get expensive, and since those campaigns are funded by exploiting not only your own citizens, but those you've conquered, it tends to create resentment that leads to revolutions that cost money to put down and on and on the cycle goes.

Top 10 Reasons The Dark Ages Were Not Dark - Listverse

Which is not to say the "Dark Ages" were wonderful and everything was joyous. Merely that they're often simply dismissed with no historical basis whatsoever.

LOL, Fantastic Weather?

So nothing then?

Byzantine Golden Age? "In the Byzantine empire during this period we saw a massive outpouring of books – encyclopedias, lexicons, and anthologies. While they did not create a lot of new thinking, they solidified and protected for the future much of what was already known." Whoopee.

Right, progress of civilization. What a bunch of losers.

Is a complete sentence hiding in there?

How many papers did you write putting forward the argument, "Whoopee"?

 

[jwoodie]

LOL, Fantastic Weather?

So nothing then?

Byzantine Golden Age? "In the Byzantine empire during this period we saw a massive outpouring of books – encyclopedias, lexicons, and anthologies. While they did not create a lot of new thinking, they solidified and protected for the future much of what was already known." Whoopee.

Right, progress of civilization. What a bunch of losers.

Is a complete sentence hiding in there?

How many papers did you write putting forward the argument, "Whoopee"?

When all else fails, play the "credential" card.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

So nothing then?

Byzantine Golden Age? "In the Byzantine empire during this period we saw a massive outpouring of books – encyclopedias, lexicons, and anthologies. While they did not create a lot of new thinking, they solidified and protected for the future much of what was already known." Whoopee.

Right, progress of civilization. What a bunch of losers.

Is a complete sentence hiding in there?

How many papers did you write putting forward the argument, "Whoopee"?

When all else fails, play the "credential" card.

I said nothing about my credentials, but I'm not sure the grammar-nazi gets to whine about it regardless.

 

[sameech]

Neocons like Rick Perry and John McCain want our troops to be everywhere forever. We can't afford the obligations we currently have overseas, much less protracted battles in all four corners of the globe.

We have problems to address here at home, like the debt, infrastructure, the borders, and Social Security solvency. We would be wise to focus our money at home for a while so we can get caught up on things here

I agree with you, but it isn't just "neocons". I think the current administration has no problem extending military commitments overseas as well.

 

[jwoodie]

Byzantine Golden Age? "In the Byzantine empire during this period we saw a massive outpouring of books – encyclopedias, lexicons, and anthologies. While they did not create a lot of new thinking, they solidified and protected for the future much of what was already known." Whoopee.

Right, progress of civilization. What a bunch of losers.

Is a complete sentence hiding in there?

How many papers did you write putting forward the argument, "Whoopee"?

When all else fails, play the "credential" card.

I said nothing about my credentials, but I'm not sure the grammar-nazi gets to whine about it regardless.

OK, how many papers did YOU write? In case it went over your head, "whoopee" was a sarcastic comment about one of the "10 Reasons the Dark Ages Were Not Dark" that YOU cited. Even by its own description, the Byzantine Golden Age "did not create a lot of new thinking." Instead, it merely preserved "what was already known" (by the Greeks and Romans).

For 500 years after the collapse of the Roman Empire, Western Civilization took a giant step backwards. Almost all of their technological achievements fell into ruins, and the best the local inhabitants could do was use the building blocks to make crude shelters. Fantastic Weather (another of your 10 Reasons) may have been the only thing that kept them alive during this dismal period.

 

[kaz]

Neocons like Rick Perry and John McCain want our troops to be everywhere forever. We can't afford the obligations we currently have overseas, much less protracted battles in all four corners of the globe.

We have problems to address here at home, like the debt, infrastructure, the borders, and Social Security solvency. We would be wise to focus our money at home for a while so we can get caught up on things here

I agree with you, but it isn't just "neocons". I think the current administration has no problem extending military commitments overseas as well.

Yes, it always cracks me up when liberals talk about neocons while they support Obama. It's not about what we do, it's about who is deciding.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

Right, progress of civilization. What a bunch of losers.

Is a complete sentence hiding in there?

How many papers did you write putting forward the argument, "Whoopee"?

When all else fails, play the "credential" card.

I said nothing about my credentials, but I'm not sure the grammar-nazi gets to whine about it regardless.

OK, how many papers did YOU write? In case it went over your head, "whoopee" was a sarcastic comment about one of the "10 Reasons the Dark Ages Were Not Dark" that YOU cited. Even by its own description, the Byzantine Golden Age "did not create a lot of new thinking." Instead, it merely preserved "what was already known" (by the Greeks and Romans).

For 500 years after the collapse of the Roman Empire, Western Civilization took a giant step backwards. Almost all of their technological achievements fell into ruins, and the best the local inhabitants could do was use the building blocks to make crude shelters. Fantastic Weather (another of your 10 Reasons) may have been the only thing that kept them alive during this dismal period.

In case it went over your head, complaining about somebody not using complete sentences while putting forth the argument, "Whoopee," makes you a dolt.

 

[jwoodie]

Is a complete sentence hiding in there?

How many papers did you write putting forward the argument, "Whoopee"?

When all else fails, play the "credential" card.

I said nothing about my credentials, but I'm not sure the grammar-nazi gets to whine about it regardless.

OK, how many papers did YOU write? In case it went over your head, "whoopee" was a sarcastic comment about one of the "10 Reasons the Dark Ages Were Not Dark" that YOU cited. Even by its own description, the Byzantine Golden Age "did not create a lot of new thinking." Instead, it merely preserved "what was already known" (by the Greeks and Romans).

For 500 years after the collapse of the Roman Empire, Western Civilization took a giant step backwards. Almost all of their technological achievements fell into ruins, and the best the local inhabitants could do was use the building blocks to make crude shelters. Fantastic Weather (another of your 10 Reasons) may have been the only thing that kept them alive during this dismal period.

In case it went over your head, complaining about somebody not using complete sentences while putting forth the argument, "Whoopee," makes you a dolt.

Higher order thinking may seem easy for some students, but difficult for others. But here's the good news: (1) higher order thinking, like most skills, can be learned; and (2) with practice, a person's higher order thinking skill level can increase.

 

[M14 Shooter]

Neocons like Rick Perry and John McCain want our troops to be everywhere forever. We can't afford the obligations we currently have overseas, much less protracted battles in all four corners of the globe.

We have problems to address here at home, like the debt, infrastructure, the borders, and Social Security solvency. We would be wise to focus our money at home for a while so we can get caught up on things here

You mean we can't afford to be everywhere forever, if government is to do all those things -you- want it to do.

In 2013, the US government laid out $2.33B in entitlement spending; there's no reason that money could not be spent in keeping us "everywhere, forever" other than you don't want it to.

In short: your argument is based on the false premise that the government must spend money on a number of things that you like.

 

[XPostFacto]

Well, no, we can not eliminate welfare. What will all those millions of slackers who live at the expense of welfare do? They probably will start looking for work, and we have no work. So they will start to rob

Neocons like Rick Perry and John McCain want our troops to be everywhere forever. We can't afford the obligations we currently have overseas, much less protracted battles in all four corners of the globe.

We have problems to address here at home, like the debt, infrastructure, the borders, and Social Security solvency. We would be wise to focus our money at home for a while so we can get caught up on things here

You forgot to include Democratic neocons like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in that analysis, but otherwise spot on. Though I would also point out we can't afford things like Social Security either.

They should eliminate welfare and apply it to SS.

They already do rob to supplement their welfare checks.

 

[Dan Daly]

Neocons like Rick Perry and John McCain want our troops to be everywhere forever. We can't afford the obligations we currently have overseas, much less protracted battles in all four corners of the globe.

We have problems to address here at home, like the debt, infrastructure, the borders, and Social Security solvency. We would be wise to focus our money at home for a while so we can get caught up on things here

You forgot to include Democratic neocons like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in that analysis, but otherwise spot on. Though I would also point out we can't afford things like Social Security either.

They should eliminate welfare and apply it to SS.

SS is welfare.

Neocons like Rick Perry and John McCain want our troops to be everywhere forever. We can't afford the obligations we currently have overseas, much less protracted battles in all four corners of the globe.

We have problems to address here at home, like the debt, infrastructure, the borders, and Social Security solvency. We would be wise to focus our money at home for a while so we can get caught up on things here

You forgot to include Democratic neocons like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in that analysis, but otherwise spot on. Though I would also point out we can't afford things like Social Security either.

They should eliminate welfare and apply it to SS.

SS is welfare.

So you dont pay social security taxes?

Sure, you paid into an alleged Social Security fund, that was then used by the government for all manner of other nonsense and completely depleted, if it ever existed, and is now dependent upon government borrowing. This is not to mention the number of people taking more money out of Social Security than they ever paid into it.

Fund nonexistent + more taken out than put in = welfare

Sooooo...

If your insurance company pays out on a claim more than you paid in premiums, it's welfare, right? If you have stocks, bonds, annuities, accounts that generate dividends or interest, it's welfare too, right?

Nice to know that most of the country is on welfare, toots.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

You forgot to include Democratic neocons like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in that analysis, but otherwise spot on. Though I would also point out we can't afford things like Social Security either.

They should eliminate welfare and apply it to SS.

SS is welfare.

You forgot to include Democratic neocons like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in that analysis, but otherwise spot on. Though I would also point out we can't afford things like Social Security either.

They should eliminate welfare and apply it to SS.

SS is welfare.

So you dont pay social security taxes?

Sure, you paid into an alleged Social Security fund, that was then used by the government for all manner of other nonsense and completely depleted, if it ever existed, and is now dependent upon government borrowing. This is not to mention the number of people taking more money out of Social Security than they ever paid into it.

Fund nonexistent + more taken out than put in = welfare

Sooooo...

If your insurance company pays out on a claim more than you paid in premiums, it's welfare, right? If you have stocks, bonds, annuities, accounts that generate dividends or interest, it's welfare too, right?

Nice to know that most of the country is on welfare, toots.

I gave up....according to him everything is welfare.

 

[Dan Daly]

They should eliminate welfare and apply it to SS.

SS is welfare.

They should eliminate welfare and apply it to SS.

SS is welfare.

So you dont pay social security taxes?

Sure, you paid into an alleged Social Security fund, that was then used by the government for all manner of other nonsense and completely depleted, if it ever existed, and is now dependent upon government borrowing. This is not to mention the number of people taking more money out of Social Security than they ever paid into it.

Fund nonexistent + more taken out than put in = welfare

Sooooo...

If your insurance company pays out on a claim more than you paid in premiums, it's welfare, right? If you have stocks, bonds, annuities, accounts that generate dividends or interest, it's welfare too, right?

Nice to know that most of the country is on welfare, toots.

I gave up....according to him everything is welfare.

Considering that so many companies use short term credit to make their payrolls and that he probably doesn't "put in" as much work as his employer pays him for, his paycheck is probably welfare too.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

You forgot to include Democratic neocons like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in that analysis, but otherwise spot on. Though I would also point out we can't afford things like Social Security either.

They should eliminate welfare and apply it to SS.

SS is welfare.

You forgot to include Democratic neocons like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in that analysis, but otherwise spot on. Though I would also point out we can't afford things like Social Security either.

They should eliminate welfare and apply it to SS.

SS is welfare.

So you dont pay social security taxes?

Sure, you paid into an alleged Social Security fund, that was then used by the government for all manner of other nonsense and completely depleted, if it ever existed, and is now dependent upon government borrowing. This is not to mention the number of people taking more money out of Social Security than they ever paid into it.

Fund nonexistent + more taken out than put in = welfare

Sooooo...

If your insurance company pays out on a claim more than you paid in premiums, it's welfare, right? If you have stocks, bonds, annuities, accounts that generate dividends or interest, it's welfare too, right?

Nice to know that most of the country is on welfare, toots.

Free exchange on the market, where insurance companies are voluntarily offering these services knowing that in some individual cases they will be paying out more than they take in, but in the grand scheme of things bringing in more than they pay out, is not the same as government forcefully taking money from everyone, spending the money, and then paying out more than they took in by borrowing and inflating, thus forcing the people they've already looted to contribute even more.

The difference is in contracting a service with a mutually consenting party, and being robbed multiple times by an organization so that they can pay somebody else off.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

They should eliminate welfare and apply it to SS.

SS is welfare.

They should eliminate welfare and apply it to SS.

SS is welfare.

So you dont pay social security taxes?

Sure, you paid into an alleged Social Security fund, that was then used by the government for all manner of other nonsense and completely depleted, if it ever existed, and is now dependent upon government borrowing. This is not to mention the number of people taking more money out of Social Security than they ever paid into it.

Fund nonexistent + more taken out than put in = welfare

Sooooo...

If your insurance company pays out on a claim more than you paid in premiums, it's welfare, right? If you have stocks, bonds, annuities, accounts that generate dividends or interest, it's welfare too, right?

Nice to know that most of the country is on welfare, toots.

I gave up....according to him everything is welfare.

Which is, of course, not my position at all.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

SS is welfare.

SS is welfare.

So you dont pay social security taxes?

Sure, you paid into an alleged Social Security fund, that was then used by the government for all manner of other nonsense and completely depleted, if it ever existed, and is now dependent upon government borrowing. This is not to mention the number of people taking more money out of Social Security than they ever paid into it.

Fund nonexistent + more taken out than put in = welfare

Sooooo...

If your insurance company pays out on a claim more than you paid in premiums, it's welfare, right? If you have stocks, bonds, annuities, accounts that generate dividends or interest, it's welfare too, right?

Nice to know that most of the country is on welfare, toots.

I gave up....according to him everything is welfare.

Considering that so many companies use short term credit to make their payrolls and that he probably doesn't "put in" as much work as his employer pays him for, his paycheck is probably welfare too.

My employer is free to terminate my employment at any time should they find my work sub-par. The fact that they haven't would seem to indicate that I am at least worth as much as they're paying me.

 

[Dan Daly]

They should eliminate welfare and apply it to SS.

SS is welfare.

They should eliminate welfare and apply it to SS.

SS is welfare.

So you dont pay social security taxes?

Sure, you paid into an alleged Social Security fund, that was then used by the government for all manner of other nonsense and completely depleted, if it ever existed, and is now dependent upon government borrowing. This is not to mention the number of people taking more money out of Social Security than they ever paid into it.

Fund nonexistent + more taken out than put in = welfare

Sooooo...

If your insurance company pays out on a claim more than you paid in premiums, it's welfare, right? If you have stocks, bonds, annuities, accounts that generate dividends or interest, it's welfare too, right?

Nice to know that most of the country is on welfare, toots.

Free exchange on the market, where insurance companies are voluntarily offering these services knowing that in some individual cases they will be paying out more than they take in, but in the grand scheme of things bringing in more than they pay out, is not the same as government forcefully taking money from everyone, spending the money, and then paying out more than they took in by borrowing and inflating, thus forcing the people they've already looted to contribute even more.

The difference is in contracting a service with a mutually consenting party, and being robbed multiple times by an organization so that they can pay somebody else off.

While I agree that we are forced to participate in the ponzi scheme called Social Security...that was not one of the requirements of welfare that you outlined. Of course if one is forced into a ponzi scheme, you can hardly call anything recovered over and above what was taken as "welfare", it's more like "compensatory damages".

 

[Dan Daly]

So you dont pay social security taxes?

Sure, you paid into an alleged Social Security fund, that was then used by the government for all manner of other nonsense and completely depleted, if it ever existed, and is now dependent upon government borrowing. This is not to mention the number of people taking more money out of Social Security than they ever paid into it.

Fund nonexistent + more taken out than put in = welfare

Sooooo...

If your insurance company pays out on a claim more than you paid in premiums, it's welfare, right? If you have stocks, bonds, annuities, accounts that generate dividends or interest, it's welfare too, right?

Nice to know that most of the country is on welfare, toots.

I gave up....according to him everything is welfare.

Considering that so many companies use short term credit to make their payrolls and that he probably doesn't "put in" as much work as his employer pays him for, his paycheck is probably welfare too.

My employer is free to terminate my employment at any time should they find my work sub-par. The fact that they haven't would seem to indicate that I am at least worth as much as they're paying me.

But that does not refute the fact that, by your own definition, if you are not putting in the same value that they are paying you, that your paycheck, at least over and above the value you contribute, is welfare.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

SS is welfare.

SS is welfare.

So you dont pay social security taxes?

Sure, you paid into an alleged Social Security fund, that was then used by the government for all manner of other nonsense and completely depleted, if it ever existed, and is now dependent upon government borrowing. This is not to mention the number of people taking more money out of Social Security than they ever paid into it.

Fund nonexistent + more taken out than put in = welfare

Sooooo...

If your insurance company pays out on a claim more than you paid in premiums, it's welfare, right? If you have stocks, bonds, annuities, accounts that generate dividends or interest, it's welfare too, right?

Nice to know that most of the country is on welfare, toots.

Free exchange on the market, where insurance companies are voluntarily offering these services knowing that in some individual cases they will be paying out more than they take in, but in the grand scheme of things bringing in more than they pay out, is not the same as government forcefully taking money from everyone, spending the money, and then paying out more than they took in by borrowing and inflating, thus forcing the people they've already looted to contribute even more.

The difference is in contracting a service with a mutually consenting party, and being robbed multiple times by an organization so that they can pay somebody else off.

While I agree that we are forced to participate in the ponzi scheme called Social Security...that was not one of the requirements of welfare that you outlined. Of course if one is forced into a ponzi scheme, you can hardly call anything recovered over and above what was taken as "welfare", it's more like "compensatory damages".

As it must be looted from others I can definitely call it welfare.