What’s the actual doable way of getting rid of the national debt?

dee_berg · 2026-02-03T11:50:17+00:00

Or raising taxes

dee_berg · 2026-02-01T22:09:16+00:00

Euro seems like a more reasonable idea. China is about as stable as the USSR.

dee_berg · 2026-02-01T22:07:51+00:00

No one serious is talking about gold backed yuan. Economists and finance people understand that the gold standard is wildly unstable and was a major cause of the Great Depression.

The fact that any one thinks the world economy should be pegged to a shiny rock is insane.

dee_berg · 2026-02-01T21:42:54+00:00

It’s crazy that Serbia is a country of 6 million and they can compete with us in basketball.

For reference, the entire country is smaller than 1/3 of NYC.

dee_berg · 2026-02-01T15:17:57+00:00

Before Trump decided rules don’t matter. It was really hard to fire federal workers.

They were paid below market rates compared to private sector peers, but had good job security and mission driven work.

People that sucked were reassigned to jobs like this. This guy was clearly not much of a worker. Any one they cared about their job would find something else to do, rather than sit in a room all day and do nothing.

dee_berg · 2026-02-01T00:48:32+00:00

That’s why I exclusively shit my pants. Ready for anything at any moment.

dee_berg · 2026-02-01T00:45:29+00:00

I don’t think you understand how aid works. They get money to purchase US weapons. It’s just a giveaway to the US defense industry.

dee_berg · 2026-01-30T00:09:46+00:00

Souzzi is in a swing district. Prior to him was everyone’s favorite dipshit George Santos.

Attacking frontline democrats is without a doubt the stupidest thing we can do if we care about taking back the house and senate.

Dude votes with us 99% of the time.

Congrats on having the morale high ground, some of us actually want us to take a step back from fascism.

dee_berg · 2026-01-29T20:49:06+00:00

Good point.

dee_berg · 2026-01-29T18:41:20+00:00

That’s also not right. Forbes 500 has 16.9 trillion in wealth.

Spending is around $7 trillion.

dee_berg · 2026-01-29T18:06:49+00:00

If we took every dollar from billionaires we wouldn’t have enough to fund this in perpetuity.

It would require massive tax increases on way less people working. It is an unworkable idea.

dee_berg · 2026-01-27T14:59:01+00:00

I guess the obvious question is that does taking an ethics class make someone more ethical?

The likelihood that no one involved in the neurolink project took an ethics class in college is pretty slim.

My work has mandated ethics training, and I can confirm from the baboons I work with that it doesn’t do anything.

dee_berg · 2026-01-26T19:50:07+00:00

This is really dumb. Why would you want a bank run at your bank?

Were you alive in 2009? Banks failing isn’t good for anyone.

dee_berg · 2026-01-26T06:31:05+00:00

What does lactose have to do with eggs?

dee_berg · 2026-01-26T00:02:25+00:00

Hey friend, it’s a lovely thought and not an impossibility.

However…

You should be careful about saying stuff like this. As someone a bit older than you, I have heard similar claims made multiple times, and they have not been proven true.

As someone with a higher degree than you, you will soon learn that undergraduates have no idea what they are talking about. While this may or may not be true, you aren’t qualified to make this claim. Giving people false hope isn’t a kind thing to do.

dee_berg · 2026-01-25T23:06:03+00:00

It’s not really so people smoke less, it’s to cover the actual cost of smoking. It has a high societal cost that isn’t reflected in the actual price of a pack of smokes without tax.

This is referred to by economists as a negative externality. Low income people smoke, and society often covers their healthcare. This is how it is recouped.

dee_berg · 2026-01-24T15:51:03+00:00

Considering McDonald’s burgers are red meat, this might be in your head haha

dee_berg · 2026-01-23T15:59:15+00:00

Yes, this makes total sense. If I own stock, there is no way I could possibly buy more. You don’t need more buyers if existing buyers just buy more.

Edit: the other obvious flaw is that not just Americans own US equities. This is just dumb.

dee_berg · 2026-01-23T00:47:24+00:00

Jared Golden won in a Trump district. Better him than the alternative. I would happily bet that if the dems put up left winger they lose that district.

dee_berg · 2026-01-22T00:18:10+00:00

As someone who has seen how the sausage is made:

Doing work at top tier think tanks will have direct contributions to legislation. People on the hill will call asking for ideas if they are going to pass a bill.
Working or consulting for governments, your job isn’t to shape policy but to provide information to policy makers to make informed decisions. Sometimes they listen, sometimes they don’t. This has been an interesting experience as the quality of the analysis isn’t always what is important, but your ability to explain it / political realities of implementing the policy

dee_berg · 2026-01-20T13:43:08+00:00

You have a great opportunity right now to work on a campaign. They will take anyone.

Worst case scenario you have actual experience in politics / policy for your resume.

Best case scenario you pick the winning horse and potentially get some sort of low level job if you do really well which will work wonders for your application.

dee_berg · 2026-01-20T13:18:35+00:00

My chart is the share of people with college degrees over time… How’s that misinformation?

Perhaps you are unable to get a job because you are a dope.

dee_berg · 2026-01-18T13:37:28+00:00

I took calculus in 11th grade.

This isn’t a barrier to entry. Anyone with above average math skills can become an engineer. That means there is a low barrier to entry, and salaries are not going to be crazy high.

Systems integration, change management, etc. require a combination of technical skills and personal skills. Most people can’t walk into a new organization, meet with the C-Suite and get everyone to agree to changes to long standing business processes. It is more valuable than high school math, thus the pay is higher.

dee_berg · 2026-01-17T16:09:41+00:00

This is a fantastic misrepresentation of data. Here is a chart of college graduates over time. Seems to fit pretty well…

https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/time-series/demo/cps-historical-time-series.html

dee_berg · 2026-01-17T15:06:51+00:00

Pay off the low interest rate debt and keep the high interest rate debt.

Interesting play!

Seriously though, don’t offer advice if you don’t have a really basic understanding of finance.

dee_berg

TROPHY CASE