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What in your opinion the biggest waste of taxpayer's money?

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Dox47
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21 Feb 2012, 10:40 am

Maybe not the biggest in sheer size, but the Department of Homeland Security is both a huge waste of money and a menace to the taxpayers themselves.


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techstepgenr8tion
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21 Feb 2012, 11:25 am

Foreign aid to China might be pretty high up the list.


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21 Feb 2012, 12:05 pm

techstepgenr8tion wrote:
Foreign aid to China might be pretty high up the list.


It is an election year, so of course the issue of "foreign aid" to China is going to be distorted. It is a relatively small amount of money, primarily being spent to advance American interests in China.

China is actually becoming more global, and starting to provide foreign aid to other countries.



ruveyn
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21 Feb 2012, 12:07 pm

techstepgenr8tion wrote:
Foreign aid to China might be pretty high up the list.


China does not get "foreign aid". It gets interest on the money it lends us. We are in hock to the Chinese.

If they ever stopped buying our treasury notes we would collapse economically.

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21 Feb 2012, 12:24 pm

ruveyn wrote:
techstepgenr8tion wrote:
Foreign aid to China might be pretty high up the list.


China does not get "foreign aid". It gets interest on the money it lends us. We are in hock to the Chinese.

If they ever stopped buying our treasury notes we would collapse economically.

ruveyn


Here is what they are griping about: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/201 ... d-to-china

Quote:
Nisha Desai Biswal, the assistant administrator for Asia at the United States Agency for International Development, offered a spirited defense of the China aid before skeptical lawmakers, claiming the $125 million in aid over the past decade fundamentally advances America's own interests in the country.

According to Biswal, USAID does not give money directly to the Chinese government. Instead, the money is used to fund public advocacy initiatives in China to raise awareness about issues such as climate change and the illegal trafficking of endangered species.

She said that as much as a third of particulate pollution in California is due to coal-fired power plants in China, so the financial incentives are geared toward encouraging the Chinese to cut back on their environmentally harmful or illegal practices for the sake of Americans' health and economy.

...Manzullo, in particular, pointed out that a media campaign recently sponsored by USAID in China was titled "Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll, and Wildlife."

"What does sex got to do with stopping the illegal trafficking of animals, of endangered species?" he asked.

Biswal defended the campaign, saying that while it may have been "glib and ill-advised," it sought to make the correlation between the illegal trafficking of animals and the illegal trafficking of drugs and people that occurs through China's borders.

"The U.S. taxpayer pays for this because these programs address our core interests," she said. "We believe that this is an appropriate use of U.S. tax funds."


The argument for the defense is that the money is being spent to advance American interests in China.



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21 Feb 2012, 12:28 pm

Well obviously welfare and disability programs duh........we don't need all those money sucking parasites around stealing everyone's hard earned cash cause they're so greedy they want access to basics like shelter, food, access to healthcare ect. Shame on them. :twisted:


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21 Feb 2012, 12:36 pm

DC wrote:
Disabled people.

We should just kill them.



Note to self: Stop reading the Daily Mail.


I know you're joking, but I work in disability services and, given the budget cuts we've been dealing with lately, that seems to be the general sentiment.

The worst part is that a lot of the in-home care we provide people actually saves taxpayers money, but we've got a lot of politicians randomly slashing without understanding how the systems they are cutting actually work.

Did you know it costs taxpayers about $30,000 less per year, per indivdual, to provide people care in their own homes, vs. keeping them in Medicaid or Medicare-funded care in nursing homes? Multiply those costs savings by the number of elderly or disabled individuals in your state and look at what's being wasted by poorly thought-out cuts.

So, I guess, to answer the original question, money wasted on ignorance and nursing home care are two of my biggest pet peeves.



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21 Feb 2012, 12:43 pm

blueroses wrote:
DC wrote:
Disabled people.

We should just kill them.



Note to self: Stop reading the Daily Mail.


I know you're joking, but I work in disability services and, given the budget cuts we've been dealing with lately, that seems to be the general sentiment.

The worst part is that a lot of the in-home care we provide people actually saves taxpayers money, but we've got a lot of politicians randomly slashing without understanding how the systems they are cutting actually work.

Did you know it costs taxpayers about $30,000 less per year, per indivdual, to provide people care in their own homes, vs. keeping them in Medicaid or Medicare-funded care in nursing homes? Multiply those costs savings by the number of elderly or disabled individuals in your state and look at what's being wasted by poorly thought-out cuts.

So, I guess, to answer the original question, money wasted on ignorance and nursing home care are two of my biggest pet peeves.


So wait not only would my great grandmother had lived out the end of her days happily in her home had she not been sent to that horrid nursing home.....but it would have costed less for the tax-payers? then again I am not sure taxes had anything to do with the funding of putting her there but I'd have to ask my grandmother how they afforded it and why the chose the more expensive option.


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21 Feb 2012, 1:24 pm

Sweetleaf wrote:
Well obviously welfare and disability programs duh........we don't need all those money sucking parasites around stealing everyone's hard earned cash cause they're so greedy they want access to basics like shelter, food, access to healthcare ect. Shame on them. :twisted:


It's really depressing to know that at least 1/3 of my paycheck goes towards feeding people who think this way.^^^

How unappreciative.



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21 Feb 2012, 1:25 pm

JWC wrote:
Sweetleaf wrote:
Well obviously welfare and disability programs duh........we don't need all those money sucking parasites around stealing everyone's hard earned cash cause they're so greedy they want access to basics like shelter, food, access to healthcare ect. Shame on them. :twisted:


It's really depressing to know that at least 1/3 of my paycheck goes towards feeding people who think this way.^^^

How unappreciative.


wait I'm a little confused......your paycheck goes to people who feel like people on welfare or disability are money sucking parasites?


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techstepgenr8tion
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21 Feb 2012, 1:31 pm

pandabear wrote:
techstepgenr8tion wrote:
Foreign aid to China might be pretty high up the list.


It is an election year, so of course the issue of "foreign aid" to China is going to be distorted. It is a relatively small amount of money, primarily being spent to advance American interests in China.

China is actually becoming more global, and starting to provide foreign aid to other countries.

Unless we're buying their national parks with it and holding them collateral I'm not sure where this is going.


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21 Feb 2012, 1:43 pm

Sweetleaf wrote:
JWC wrote:
Sweetleaf wrote:
Well obviously welfare and disability programs duh........we don't need all those money sucking parasites around stealing everyone's hard earned cash cause they're so greedy they want access to basics like shelter, food, access to healthcare ect. Shame on them. :twisted:


It's really depressing to know that at least 1/3 of my paycheck goes towards feeding people who think this way.^^^

How unappreciative.


wait I'm a little confused......your paycheck goes to people who feel like people on welfare or disability are money sucking parasites?



People who are on welfare or disability referring to tax payers as "greedy".

How many poor families did you feed this year?



Sweetleaf
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21 Feb 2012, 2:13 pm

JWC wrote:
Sweetleaf wrote:
JWC wrote:
Sweetleaf wrote:
Well obviously welfare and disability programs duh........we don't need all those money sucking parasites around stealing everyone's hard earned cash cause they're so greedy they want access to basics like shelter, food, access to healthcare ect. Shame on them. :twisted:


It's really depressing to know that at least 1/3 of my paycheck goes towards feeding people who think this way.^^^

How unappreciative.


wait I'm a little confused......your paycheck goes to people who feel like people on welfare or disability are money sucking parasites?



People who are on welfare or disability referring to tax payers as "greedy".

How many poor families did you feed this year?


I was being sarcastic, if you did not get that........but what was said is the people on welfare are greedy for wanting shelter, food and access to healthcare, it was a joke though I was being satirical. But anyways I never said tax payers are greedy though I am sure since most citizens are taxpayers some of them are greedy, especially the ones who think the way I described about people on disability and welfare.

And if I had the means I would feed every poor family I could find unfortunately I don't have much myself and the only reason I'm not living on the street is because my moms letting me stay at her house so yeah I was not able to feed any poor families.


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Last edited by Sweetleaf on 21 Feb 2012, 2:17 pm, edited 3 times in total.

CrazyCatLord
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21 Feb 2012, 2:14 pm

DC wrote:
Note to self: Stop reading the Daily Mail.


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21 Feb 2012, 2:22 pm

JWC wrote:
Sweetleaf wrote:
JWC wrote:
Sweetleaf wrote:
Well obviously welfare and disability programs duh........we don't need all those money sucking parasites around stealing everyone's hard earned cash cause they're so greedy they want access to basics like shelter, food, access to healthcare ect. Shame on them. :twisted:


It's really depressing to know that at least 1/3 of my paycheck goes towards feeding people who think this way.^^^

How unappreciative.


wait I'm a little confused......your paycheck goes to people who feel like people on welfare or disability are money sucking parasites?



People who are on welfare or disability referring to tax payers as "greedy".

How many poor families did you feed this year?


When you volunteer, you get to say "I did help". I volunteer at dinners for the needy.



JWC
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21 Feb 2012, 2:22 pm

Sweetleaf wrote:
JWC wrote:
Sweetleaf wrote:
JWC wrote:
Sweetleaf wrote:
Well obviously welfare and disability programs duh........we don't need all those money sucking parasites around stealing everyone's hard earned cash cause they're so greedy they want access to basics like shelter, food, access to healthcare ect. Shame on them. :twisted:


It's really depressing to know that at least 1/3 of my paycheck goes towards feeding people who think this way.^^^

How unappreciative.


wait I'm a little confused......your paycheck goes to people who feel like people on welfare or disability are money sucking parasites?



People who are on welfare or disability referring to tax payers as "greedy".

How many poor families did you feed this year?


I was being sarcastic, if you did not get that........but what was said is the people on welfare are greedy for wanting shelter, food and access to healthcare, it was a joke though I was being satirical. But anyways I never said tax payers are greedy though I am sure since most citizens are taxpayers some of them are greedy, especially the ones who think the way I described about people on disability and welfare.

And if I had the means I would feed every poor family I could find unfortunately I don't have much myself and the only reason I'm not living on the street is because my moms letting me stay at her house so yeah I was not able to feed any poor families.


Yeah, I got the sarcasm. The idea that someone should be able to force someone else to pay for their existence is disgusting.

Isn't it funny that the ones who support communism never have anything to contribute to the commune?