Quote of the Day
The local branch of radio for the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy had a show this morning on what it would take to reset the country. Given that this is Tennessee, there were a lot of callers who would call in and say things like the country needs to get back to God, which is apparently some folks answer for everything. And I don’t get that since I didn’t vote for God. And a lot of them said term limits too. But one guy called in and said (paraphrased):
The best way to reset the country is to have deficit spending on the largest scale ever, government bailouts of industry, big government, socialized healthcare, vast unfunded entitlements, and government employees who make far more money than their private industry counterparts.
Some folks seem to get it.
August 26th, 2010 at 9:05 am
We should pay our military folk more than the private sector counterparts who are doing the same job in Iraq and elsewhere.
August 26th, 2010 at 10:19 am
Its called Keynesian economics. It was a theory brought about by economist John Keynes. He basicly said that Govt should spend and spend and spend without end and with no regards to debt/deficits…………wait for it…………. He was a devout socialist
August 26th, 2010 at 11:10 am
I guess there’s two ways to take the “reset the country” quote. There is the reset it into socialism by spending us into the ground point of view, but perhaps some sort of collapse may also necessary to reset it back to traditional values as well. Kind of the ultimate wake up call. Beck talks about Piven and Cloward pushing the overload to get us to their desired state. It occurs to me that at the point of collapse both sides have a chance to change the course but only one side is actually prepared. The other side will be waiting for handouts. The grand assumption is that we will all go along with whatever direction the government proposes just because “they say so” may be false at the moment of social upheaval.
August 26th, 2010 at 11:18 am
But Keynes also said that in time of good, .gov’s was supposed to put something away for when the times weren’t so good. You can’t follow the plan only halfway, it’s supposed to be all or nothing. Maybe somebody should tell Washington about this…
August 26th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Seb,
You are mistaken. There is NO WAY that PFC Schmucatelli or CPL Jackinov is worth what the average contractor makes in country.
Having served, I can assure you that there are orders of magnitude differences in the skill set of a 4-8 year grunt/heavy weapons/03xx MOS versus a mature 38-50 year old vet.
My first gig, I was the junior man. The team leaders were all Green Beenies who had taken that little jog through Mogadishu.
The mission leader was a TL on Desert One, Sergeant Major of Delta for 12 years, Vietnam vet, strike breaker expert, and had served in some role in several African “skirmishes.”
The rest of the team was made up of E7 and up SEALS, several SF guys, a few long serving Batt Boys, a couple of Recon guys, and a sniper from the Department of Energy(?).
All of those guys were worth the 2-3k a day that the government payed. We didn’t get that much per day(and I am not sure I was worth what I was being payed) but we did the work that would have cost the government tens of millions if they had been forced to commit a military unit.
I think you must consider the legacy and training costs associated with using the appropriately trained military unit versus contracting for the same skill set without the disability,insurance,healthcare, and support costs.
I, for one, am interested in eliminating all non combat related MOSs with the exception of a handful of support functions. Sub out the “combat cooks” and infantry janitors, save some money, and cut the military down to a leaner, more agile fighting machine.
Also, are you the Seb that once posted at CC?
August 26th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
Chuck Bennett 4 President!
August 26th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Reset?
Reset will happen AFTER economic collapse, and the most likely scenario for bringing THAT on is a continuation of Obamanomics AND the Chinese calling in their markers.
August 26th, 2010 at 10:17 pm
The answer to 1984 is 1776.
August 26th, 2010 at 10:19 pm
Randal,
Indeed! What was/is your handle over there? I have so much more free time to blog (or not anymore…damn :)), do politics around here in Baltimore, etc when I’m not wiling away the day arguing with Menk. From what other people tell me over there…I ain’t missing much. Kinda sad compared to what it was in the good ole days…
Point taken on the difference between an experience professional military man and the non professional enlisted guy gutting it out and counting down the days until his three years is up and he can go back to work at the Dunkin Donuts stateside. I’m sure the skillsets and knowledge you had at the end of your days in uniform made you a much more valuable commodity than the guy who signed up for two weekends a month, two weeks a year and found himself suddenly in the big sandbox and not cause he really wanted to be there.
But I think those are the guys I was referring to mostly–our best and brightest men at arms can quit and go work for Xe and make a lot more doing the same job with the same skills…and what that says about our future isn’t necessarily good.
August 27th, 2010 at 1:28 am
Randal,
Indeed! A lot of smoke blown…
You may have taken a tour in the sandbox and dealt with a few security contractors. From talk, the ones who do security for DoS are pretty good, but the bone fides of the rest I would take a bucket of salt.
“The mission leader was a TL on Desert One, Sergeant Major of Delta for 12 years, Vietnam vet…”, that would have made him about 60. It’s the E-9 for twelve years that is a yellow flag, for “Delta”.
Did he ever tell you what this “Delta” real name is? And 12 years is a hell of a lonnnggg time.
Not that I know jack shiite other than ‘Delta’ is for movie goers.
August 27th, 2010 at 8:33 am
Sapper,
No urge to get in an internet pissing match.
I worked for Craig “Mad Max” Maxim. He was a little angry man that didn’t tolerate too much BS, so pardon me if I didn’t ask for a resume. But the “D-boys” 25 years his junior, treated him like some sort of legend.