The Trump Economy

[Buffalo_Gal]

[The_Dude]

1 hour ago, Buffalo_Gal said:

 

What are you babbling about?

 

Im seeing a lot of revisionists lately. 

 

https://www.factcheck.org/2017/09/obamas-final-numbers/

 

It is undebateable that the country was better when Obama left office than it was when he assumed office. 

 

That cartoon is beyond stupid. It’s not even funny it’s so eronious. 

 

Ya know, if you’re good ya don’t need lies. 

[Koko78]

58 minutes ago, The_Dude said:

 

What are you babbling about?

 

Im seeing a lot of revisionists lately. 

 

https://www.factcheck.org/2017/09/obamas-final-numbers/

 

It is undebateable that the country was better when Obama left office than it was when he assumed office. 

 

That cartoon is beyond stupid. It’s not even funny it’s so eronious. 

 

Ya know, if you’re good ya don’t need lies. 

 

Wow, talking about the joke going over someone's head...

[The_Dude]

9 minutes ago, Koko78 said:

 

Wow, talking about the joke going over someone's head...

 

I got the joke. Nonetheless, political cartoons like this are designed to be satirical reflections of the truth. And that’s far from the truth. 

[3rdnlng]

3 minutes ago, The_Dude said:

 

I got the joke. Nonetheless, political cartoons like this are designed to be satirical reflections of the truth. And that’s far from the truth. 

No, no it isn't.

[Tiberius]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_cycle

[Koko78]

23 minutes ago, The_Dude said:

I got the joke. Nonetheless, political cartoons like this are designed to be satirical reflections of the truth. And that’s far from the truth. 

 

Are you trying to deny that Obama blamed "the previous administration" for his problems?

[3rdnlng]

28 minutes ago, Koko78 said:

 

Are you trying to deny that Obama blamed "the previous administration" for his problems?

He's making up for it by claiming credit for Trump's successes.

[Tiberius]

1 hour ago, Koko78 said:

 

Are you trying to deny that Obama blamed "the previous administration" for his problems?

Are you trying to claim Obama didn't inherit an economic disaster? 

[keepthefaith]

20 hours ago, The_Dude said:

 

 

 

Im not a fan of most of what Obama did. But, if you’re not gonna be biased, you take a look at his presidency and I think over time it will be remembered well. Look at what he got, look at what he left. Better in many categories. 

 

 

 

Shirley you jest. 

 

Obama added about $10T in debt.  Don't argue they all do it. It sucks. 

Health care cost for private insurance more than doubled during his years and much of that directly due to his signature legislation.

Millions more illegal immigrants entered the country and he turned the border patrol and ICE into a port of entry greeting staff and travel agents.

He kicked the can down the road WRT to our ME problems, ISIS and NK.  Trump is cleaning that up.

His economic stimulus was record deficit spending and more taxation and we got record debt and tepid growth.  Oh boy does it take some smarts and know how to tax more and spend more.

He appointed 2 SC justices 1 of which (Kagan) is a legal lightweight and both have clearly have acted on ideology rather than law in some of the larger cases. 

He left the military in a lousy state of readiness according to many.

He's even a failure to his own party as he destroyed the Democrat brand, lost majorities in the house, senate and many dem governors.  He gave the country Trump just as Bush 2 gave the country Obama. 

 

He flat out sucked as a president and only poor memories can erase that opinion in the minds of most. 

 

Edited September 9, 2018 by keepthefaith

[DC Tom]

5 minutes ago, keepthefaith said:

 

Shirley you jest. 

 

Obama added about $10T in debt.  Don't argue they all do it. It sucks. 

Health care cost for private insurance more than doubled during his years and much of that directly due to his signature legislation.

Millions more illegal immigrants entered the country and he turned the border patrol and ICE into a port of entry greeting staff and travel agents.

He kicked the can down the road WRT to our ME problems, ISIS and NK.  Trump is cleaning that up.

His economic stimulus was record deficit spending and more taxation and we got record debt and tepid growth.  Oh boy does it take some smarts and know how to tax more and spend more.

He appointed 2 SC justices 1 of which (Kagan) is a legal lightweight and both have clearly have acted on ideology rather than law in some of the larger cases. 

He left the military in a lousy state of readiness according to many.

He's even a failure to his own party as he destroyed the Democrat brand, lost majorities in the house, senate and many dem governors.  He gave the country Trump just as Bush 2 gave the country Obama. 

 

He flat out sucked as a president and only poor memories can erase that opinion in the minds of most. 

 

 

And general abuses of power - Title IX, DACA, the GM bankruptcy - and his overt deference to Putin.

[Nanker]

 

[The_Dude]

2 hours ago, keepthefaith said:

 

Shirley you jest. 

 

Obama added about $10T in debt.  Don't argue they all do it. It sucks. 

Health care cost for private insurance more than doubled during his years and much of that directly due to his signature legislation.

Millions more illegal immigrants entered the country and he turned the border patrol and ICE into a port of entry greeting staff and travel agents.

He kicked the can down the road WRT to our ME problems, ISIS and NK.  Trump is cleaning that up.

His economic stimulus was record deficit spending and more taxation and we got record debt and tepid growth.  Oh boy does it take some smarts and know how to tax more and spend more.

He appointed 2 SC justices 1 of which (Kagan) is a legal lightweight and both have clearly have acted on ideology rather than law in some of the larger cases. 

He left the military in a lousy state of readiness according to many.

He's even a failure to his own party as he destroyed the Democrat brand, lost majorities in the house, senate and many dem governors.  He gave the country Trump just as Bush 2 gave the country Obama. 

 

He flat out sucked as a president and only poor memories can erase that opinion in the minds of most. 

 

 

1. Obama’s increase in the debt was inevitable to get out of the recession. Further, if you chart it, it did go down by year. Now, in my opinion not enough. But studying it, one could say during the Obama years the increase to the national debt declined by about 50% from his first year in office which obviously required extraordinary measures. 

 

2. I’m not so sure you’re accurate in your claims on cost of insurance. I do know that I was able to get insurance while opening my business during Obama’s tenure. 

 

3. What does “more” mean when you’re talking about illegal immigration? Because the population of illegal immigrants went down during his tenure. 

http://cmsny.org/publications/warren-undocumented-2016/

 

id argue a large portion was due to the down housing market from the recession. 

 

4. His economic stimulus was a playbook out of Keynesian economics which has a pretty good historical record. Additionally, I never saw a huge increase in taxes during his years. http://time.com/money/4630346/president-obama-taxes-increase-obamacare/

 

5. Uh, Obama had the right to appointed judges. He did that. Nothing to complain about there. 

 

6. He did NOT leave the military in a lousy state. That was the most combat hardened army in years. Now, there’s reason to hate his gayification of it, and his shortsightedness when it comes to women/transsexuals and guns — women and trannies have no place in fight club. 

 

Look, Obama can only be considered a radical socialist by people who’ve never studied radical socialists. I’d call him a moderate and I’d call his presidency successful. His presidency isn’t how I’d have played it, but he left the country better than he found it. 

 

Lastly, I don’t want to hear criticisms from Trump supporters on the debt increase under Obama....because what the hell are you people doing about it? The debt and wealth inequality are going to be the two great issues of our day...not like that’s anything new........but, still....

2 hours ago, Nanker said:

 

 

When I had to shake hands with them (and I did, and I had to) I’d always involve my left hand by clasping it over their right as we were shaking. 

 

Bow? Me? Not never. God Obama wild piss me off with that crap. 

[TPS]

23 hours ago, DC Tom said:

 

From October 2016 to April 2018 (arbitrary dates I picked), there are three million more people employed, the number of workers part-time employed for economic reasons is down more than a million, the number of people participating in the labor force is up substantially, and average wages are up a dollar an hour.  That's about a third-again better than the 18 months previous to October 2016...and that's at the tail end of a very long period of time without an economic contraction.

 

That demonstrates how much Obama's tax and regulatory policies held back economic growth.  Doing nothing but not being Obama, Trump increased growth by a third.

 

So I'm having a little trouble spotting that Trump Trend....?

 

I have no problem giving him credit for accelerating GDP growth this year due to his tax cuts and spending increases, but the data supports the notion that the economy was simply moving on trend in his first year, at best.

[3rdnlng]

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/02/10/spare-parts-shortage-grounds-most-marine-corps-aircraft.html

 

At the end of 2016, the Marine Corps had 1,065 aircraft on flight lines around the world, ranging from small attack helicopters to C-130 transport planes.

Of those, only 439 are considered ready to fly as is. The remaining aircraft, nearly 60 percent of the total, are considered temporarily non-mission capable, either awaiting maintenance, in-service repair or supply, meaning they are lacking the parts they need to be operational.

 

And as the Corps works to claw back readiness and increase pilot flight hours from postwar lows in 2014, it's the spare parts issue that has the service's top aviator most concerned.

Speaking to reporters this week, Lt. Gen. Jon "Dog" Davis, deputy commandant for aviation, said aircraft maintainers are still sometimes resorting to cannibalization, or borrowing parts from working aircraft to make other planes operational.

He made his concern clear in a wish list to Congress that each service recently submitted in anticipation of a forthcoming supplemental defense budget for this year.

"On my unfunded priority list, one of the biggest things we've been banging the drum about is the need to refill our coffers on our supply parts," he said. "It's a big problem both for the new airplanes and the old ones."

Among the Marine Corps' most used fighters, rotorcraft and transports, the problem is universal. Of aircraft that are in-reporting but can't fly, the percentage of those down for parts is as follows, Davis said:

• 61 percent of AV-8B Harriers
• 50 percent of MV-22 Ospreys
• 56 percent of CH-53E Super Stallions
• 64 percent of C-130 Hercules
• ~55 percent of F/A-18 Hornets

For the Hornet, which has been particularly troubled by readiness issues, 29 percent of all 171 aircraft in reporting are down for supply, Davis said.

"The one thing that is holding the man down on every platform is not-mission-capable supply," Davis said. "By every type/model/series, it's a contributor to why that airplane might not be available for flying."

The Corps is still about 150 aircraft shy of the number of ready basic aircraft it needs to allow all aviators to meet their flight hour goals, a key requirement for both proficiency and safety.

The Marine Corps Hornet community, which sustained seven crashes in the last fifteen months with three pilot fatalities, is about 20 aircraft shy of what it needs to make flight hour goals, with 72 ready basic aircraft out of the 171 in reporting, Davis said.

While the aircraft readiness crisis has had minimal impact on deployments and forward operations up until now, the Corps did recently pull half its MV-22 Ospreys back from its forward-deployed crisis response task force for Africa, reducing the presence in theater from 12 aircraft to six.

"We couldn't sustain them," Assistant Commandant Gen. Glenn Walters told lawmakers in a hearing this week. "The requirement was still there, but we couldn't sustain it."

Davis said the Marine Corps is on track to make pilot flight hour goals by 2019. It will be the first time the service has hit that marker since 2012.

"If I'm a businessman, I'm underwater right now, because I don't have enough power tools to make my flight hour goal," he said.

 

Show Full Article

 

© Copyright 2018 Military.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

[The_Dude]

1 hour ago, 3rdnlng said:

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/02/10/spare-parts-shortage-grounds-most-marine-corps-aircraft.html

 

At the end of 2016, the Marine Corps had 1,065 aircraft on flight lines around the world, ranging from small attack helicopters to C-130 transport planes.

Of those, only 439 are considered ready to fly as is. The remaining aircraft, nearly 60 percent of the total, are considered temporarily non-mission capable, either awaiting maintenance, in-service repair or supply, meaning they are lacking the parts they need to be operational.

 

And as the Corps works to claw back readiness and increase pilot flight hours from postwar lows in 2014, it's the spare parts issue that has the service's top aviator most concerned.

Speaking to reporters this week, Lt. Gen. Jon "Dog" Davis, deputy commandant for aviation, said aircraft maintainers are still sometimes resorting to cannibalization, or borrowing parts from working aircraft to make other planes operational.

He made his concern clear in a wish list to Congress that each service recently submitted in anticipation of a forthcoming supplemental defense budget for this year.

"On my unfunded priority list, one of the biggest things we've been banging the drum about is the need to refill our coffers on our supply parts," he said. "It's a big problem both for the new airplanes and the old ones."

Among the Marine Corps' most used fighters, rotorcraft and transports, the problem is universal. Of aircraft that are in-reporting but can't fly, the percentage of those down for parts is as follows, Davis said:

• 61 percent of AV-8B Harriers
• 50 percent of MV-22 Ospreys
• 56 percent of CH-53E Super Stallions
• 64 percent of C-130 Hercules
• ~55 percent of F/A-18 Hornets

For the Hornet, which has been particularly troubled by readiness issues, 29 percent of all 171 aircraft in reporting are down for supply, Davis said.

"The one thing that is holding the man down on every platform is not-mission-capable supply," Davis said. "By every type/model/series, it's a contributor to why that airplane might not be available for flying."

The Corps is still about 150 aircraft shy of the number of ready basic aircraft it needs to allow all aviators to meet their flight hour goals, a key requirement for both proficiency and safety.

The Marine Corps Hornet community, which sustained seven crashes in the last fifteen months with three pilot fatalities, is about 20 aircraft shy of what it needs to make flight hour goals, with 72 ready basic aircraft out of the 171 in reporting, Davis said.

While the aircraft readiness crisis has had minimal impact on deployments and forward operations up until now, the Corps did recently pull half its MV-22 Ospreys back from its forward-deployed crisis response task force for Africa, reducing the presence in theater from 12 aircraft to six.

"We couldn't sustain them," Assistant Commandant Gen. Glenn Walters told lawmakers in a hearing this week. "The requirement was still there, but we couldn't sustain it."

Davis said the Marine Corps is on track to make pilot flight hour goals by 2019. It will be the first time the service has hit that marker since 2012.

"If I'm a businessman, I'm underwater right now, because I don't have enough power tools to make my flight hour goal," he said.

 

Show Full Article

 

© Copyright 2018 Military.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

 

Ok. So? The Marines have long been the poor kids of the military. I remember running into active duty infantry Marines in Iraq when I was with the 101st. I felt bad for them. We had ACOGs, EoTechs, and at worst an M68 reflex sight. All of our rifles had an IR laser and we all had PVS-14’s because I was in the well funded 101st. The marines had jack **** compared to us. Marines have always been the poor kids. Sad but true. 

2 hours ago, TPS said:

 

So I'm having a little trouble spotting that Trump Trend....?

 

I have no problem giving him credit for accelerating GDP growth this year due to his tax cuts and spending increases, but the data supports the notion that the economy was simply moving on trend in his first year, at best.

 

No — nobody in America had a job until Trump became president. 

 

 

These partisans — I hate them. 

 

If theyre on “team Republican” they act like politics is football game. Anything our team does is good, anything the other team does is bad. Obama could have cured cancer and they still wouldn’t give him credit. They don’t care about the nation succeeding, they care about their team bringing home the trophy. For America, it’s sad. 

Edited September 10, 2018 by The_Dude

[3rdnlng]

1 hour ago, The_Dude said:

 

Ok. So? The Marines have long been the poor kids of the military. I remember running into active duty infantry Marines in Iraq when I was with the 101st. I felt bad for them. We had ACOGs, EoTechs, and at worst an M68 reflex sight. All of our rifles had an IR laser and we all had PVS-14’s because I was in the well funded 101st. The marines had jack **** compared to us. Marines have always been the poor kids. Sad but true. 

 

 

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/05/14/wiped-out-air-force-losing-pilots-and-planes-to-cuts-scrounging-for-spare-parts.html

 

EXCLUSIVE: It was just a few years ago, in March 2011, when a pair of U.S. Air Force B-1 bombers – during a harsh winter storm – took off from their base in South Dakota to fly across the world to launch the air campaign in Libya, only 16 hours after given the order.

Today, many in the Air Force are questioning whether a similar mission could still be accomplished, after years of budget cuts that have taken an undeniable toll. The U.S. Air Force is now short 4,000 airmen to maintain its fleet, short 700 pilots to fly them and short vital spare parts necessary to keep their jets in the air. The shortage is so dire that some have even been forced to scrounge for parts in a remote desert scrapheap known as “The Boneyard.”  

“It's not only the personnel that are tired, it's the aircraft that are tired as well,” Master Sgt. Bruce Pfrommer, who has over two decades of experience in the Air Force working on B-1 bombers, told Fox News.

Fox News visited two U.S. Air Force bases – including South Dakota’s Ellsworth Air Force Base located 35 miles from Mount Rushmore, where Pfrommer is stationed – to see the resource problems first-hand, following an investigation into the state of U.S. Marine Corps aviation last month.  

Many of the Airmen reported feeing “burnt out” and “exhausted” due to the current pace of operations, and limited resources to support them. During the visit to Ellsworth earlier this week, Fox News was told only about half of the 28th Bomb Wing’s fleet of bombers can fly. 

“We have only 20 aircraft assigned on station currently. Out of those 20 only nine are flyable,” Pfrommer said.  

“The [B-1] I worked on 20 years ago had 1,000 flight hours on it.  Now we're looking at some of the airplanes out here that are pushing over 10,000 flight hours,” he said.  

"In 10 years, we cut our flying program in half," said Capt. Elizabeth Jarding, a B-1 pilot at Ellsworth who returned home in January following a six-month deployment to the Middle East for the anti-ISIS campaign.  

On an overcast day in the middle of May with temperatures hovering in the low 50’s, two B-1 bombers were supposed launch at 9:00 a.m. local time to fly nearly 1,000 miles south to White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico for a live-fire exercise. 

On this day, though, only one of the two B-1s that taxied to the runway was able to take off and make the training mission on time. The other sat near the runway for two hours.  It eventually took off but was unable to participate in the live-fire exercise and diverted to a different mission, its crew missing out on valuable training at White Sands.

A spare aircraft also was unable to get airborne.

[keepthefaith]

3 hours ago, The_Dude said:

 

1. Obama’s increase in the debt was inevitable to get out of the recession. Further, if you chart it, it did go down by year. Now, in my opinion not enough. But studying it, one could say during the Obama years the increase to the national debt declined by about 50% from his first year in office which obviously required extraordinary measures. 

 

Bush, Trump and others were or are also not fiscally responsible.  Yeah, Obama claims he cut annual deficits in half after blowing them up early in his first term.  The economy would have recovered without the porkulus bill. 

 

2. I’m not so sure you’re accurate in your claims on cost of insurance. I do know that I was able to get insurance while opening my business during Obama’s tenure. 

I operate 2 businesses that employ people and in Illinois the annual cost increases accelerated after ACA regulation was enacted.  Absolutely tied to the new law.

 

3. What does “more” mean when you’re talking about illegal immigration? Because the population of illegal immigrants went down during his tenure. 

http://cmsny.org/publications/warren-undocumented-20

Not a credible source in fact there isn't a credible source on the actual numbers because there is no will within the federal government to measure it.  Some independent people that study the issue believe we have more than 20 million here.  For sure though Obama made illegal entry a turnstile.  For years he willfully had many people transported and released into the interior of the country.  He allowed illegal immigrants to be counted in the 2010 census thus providing them elected representation.

 

id argue a large portion was due to the down housing market from the recession. 

 

4. His economic stimulus was a playbook out of Keynesian economics which has a pretty good historical record. Additionally, I never saw a huge increase in taxes during his years. http://time.com/money/4630346/president-obama-taxes-increase-obamacare/

He raised taxes on upper earners, signed the AC which included a 3.8% investment tax and also taxes with health insurance. He campaigned that he would go through the budget line by line and cut the fat.  Fat chance. 

 

5. Uh, Obama had the right to appointed judges. He did that. Nothing to complain about there. 

Garland was probably his best choice but he didn't choose previously based on most qualified IMO.  Sucks for the left that Repub's used the Biden rule to block him. 

 

6. He did NOT leave the military in a lousy state. That was the most combat hardened army in years. Now, there’s reason to hate his gayification of it, and his shortsightedness when it comes to women/transsexuals and guns — women and trannies have no place in fight club.

Close friend of mine 20+ years in Army as pilot and had big aviation maintenance leadership positions as well and now works as a consultant (10 years now) all over the world as a gov't contractor and he will tell you our equipment is in lousy shape and readiness.  Men and women battle tested yes, equipment very run down. 

 

Look, Obama can only be considered a radical socialist by people who’ve never studied radical socialists. I’d call him a moderate and I’d call his presidency successful. His presidency isn’t how I’d have played it, but he left the country better than he found it. 

 

Lastly, I don’t want to hear criticisms from Trump supporters on the debt increase under Obama....because what the hell are you people doing about it? The debt and wealth inequality are going to be the two great issues of our day...not like that’s anything new........but, still....

Trump has yet to address debt.  Will he?  hard to say but neither party wants to make the tough decisions.  Wealth disparity not a gov't problem.  Most at the bottom who aren't happy with their economic standing need to look in the mirror.   

 

When I had to shake hands with them (and I did, and I had to) I’d always involve my left hand by clasping it over their right as we were shaking. 

 

Bow? Me? Not never. God Obama wild piss me off with that crap. 

 

[The_Dude]

6 hours ago, keepthefaith said:

 

 

1. My god guy, no. Please take a look at the history of such financial disasters and the success of Keynesian economics. Economics are complicated, but the success rate isn’t. 

 

2. My business is except from the ACA. I opened it after the ACA. The ACA was the reason I was able to find insurance when I quit my job. 

 

3. You’re making wild accusations here. 

 

4. Right....so it’s like I said, the average American didn’t see tax increases under Obama. 

 

5. Not worth addressing unless I bring up your extreme partisan remark at the end about the Biden rule...whatever that is. 

 

6. bull ****. Army aviation was well supplied. The unit I was most familiar with was the 160th being I spent 5 years at Campbell and the 160th is kind of a special unit that probably got additional funding, but bull ****. The army is very strict on maintenance for aircraft and logistics for them. Army aviaition was well funded during my tenure from 02-12. 

 

7. How is Trump a conservative? By destroying free trade and increasing the debt? Or do you only measure the debt when it’s a Democrat in office?

 

7 hours ago, 3rdnlng said:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/05/14/wiped-out-air-force-losing-pilots-and-planes-to-cuts-scrounging-for-spare-parts.html

 

EXCLUSIVE: It was just a few years ago, in March 2011, when a pair of U.S. Air Force B-1 bombers – during a harsh winter storm – took off from their base in South Dakota to fly across the world to launch the air campaign in Libya, only 16 hours after given the order.

Today, many in the Air Force are questioning whether a similar mission could still be accomplished, after years of budget cuts that have taken an undeniable toll. The U.S. Air Force is now short 4,000 airmen to maintain its fleet, short 700 pilots to fly them and short vital spare parts necessary to keep their jets in the air. The shortage is so dire that some have even been forced to scrounge for parts in a remote desert scrapheap known as “The Boneyard.”  

“It's not only the personnel that are tired, it's the aircraft that are tired as well,” Master Sgt. Bruce Pfrommer, who has over two decades of experience in the Air Force working on B-1 bombers, told Fox News.

Fox News visited two U.S. Air Force bases – including South Dakota’s Ellsworth Air Force Base located 35 miles from Mount Rushmore, where Pfrommer is stationed – to see the resource problems first-hand, following an investigation into the state of U.S. Marine Corps aviation last month.  

Many of the Airmen reported feeing “burnt out” and “exhausted” due to the current pace of operations, and limited resources to support them. During the visit to Ellsworth earlier this week, Fox News was told only about half of the 28th Bomb Wing’s fleet of bombers can fly. 

“We have only 20 aircraft assigned on station currently. Out of those 20 only nine are flyable,” Pfrommer said.  

“The [B-1] I worked on 20 years ago had 1,000 flight hours on it.  Now we're looking at some of the airplanes out here that are pushing over 10,000 flight hours,” he said.  

"In 10 years, we cut our flying program in half," said Capt. Elizabeth Jarding, a B-1 pilot at Ellsworth who returned home in January following a six-month deployment to the Middle East for the anti-ISIS campaign.  

On an overcast day in the middle of May with temperatures hovering in the low 50’s, two B-1 bombers were supposed launch at 9:00 a.m. local time to fly nearly 1,000 miles south to White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico for a live-fire exercise. 

On this day, though, only one of the two B-1s that taxied to the runway was able to take off and make the training mission on time. The other sat near the runway for two hours.  It eventually took off but was unable to participate in the live-fire exercise and diverted to a different mission, its crew missing out on valuable training at White Sands.

A spare aircraft also was unable to get airborne.

 

My first deployment to Iraq I was with a poor kids unit (2nd ACR). We had always been underfunded. Logistics in Iraq at the time was still a challenge because when I got there we were still establishing FOBs. But I still wouldn’t say we were underfunded. We did need logistics to catch up and they did. 

 

But the fact that we were conducting operations globally just proves that all this nonsense about being underfunded is NONSENSE. You can’t have well paid troops across the globe and not be so. 

 

Now as as far as things like you pointed out above — sometimes idiot officers spend money in stupid ways. 

 

For example, I ended my career in the POGest of POG establishments — recruiting. Every year, every army recruiting brigade wastes a small fortune on annual training conference (ATC) which is nothing less than a 3-4 day party so that the non combatants can celebrate their great achievements. They rent out rooms and banquet halls and nice hotels. When I was in Houston my first shindig was at a nice hotel called Moody Gardens in Gavelston. Point is, it didn’t matter how badly USAREC ever got their funding cut, they were gonna plan that irresponsible, gay party so that the non combatants could pretend to be real soldiers and give each other awards. 

 

During the Bush and Obama years when I was in, it is my opinion that we were well funded. Especially 3rd brigade of the 101st. Because as far as conventional units go, we were creme de la creme. 

Edited September 10, 2018 by The_Dude

[Tiberius]

I remember when Obamacare was suppose to kill the economy. Most of this economic expansion has taken place under Obama, the longest bull market took place mostly under Obama and since Trump will probably be gone soon that will stay that way