unlike you, i dont “skim” counter arguments, i prefer to read and understand where they went wrong, or right. lets dive in to your mind a bit, shall we?

“Of course I’m aware it’s the largest item in its category once you filter spending into categories that specifically remove welfare and debt spending.”

Yeah, that’s kind of the point. You’re minimizing military spending by slicing up the budget categories until the elephant in the room fits in a closet. Within discretionary spending—the part Congress actually debates every year—military spending is the single biggest slice by far. In FY2024, the U.S. military budget was $842 billion, dwarfing most other departments. Acting like that’s a meaningless stat is disingenuous.

“Discretionary spending specifically is a small part of government expenditure…”

Only because mandatory programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are locked in. But when it comes to spending decisions our elected officials actively control, defense gets the lion’s share. So yeah, it’s still relevant.

“Military industrial complex doesn’t exist.”

Come on. This isn’t a conspiracy theory, it’s literal U.S. presidential history. Eisenhower coined the term in 1961 warning about the influence of the defense industry on public policy. Since then, the intertwining of defense contractors, government funding, and foreign policy has been extensively documented. Pretending it’s fake is like saying lobbying doesn’t exist.

“Majority of rich nations have debt.”

Sure. But the existence of debt doesn’t make all spending equal. A lot of those nations invest more proportionally in healthcare, infrastructure, and education. The U.S., meanwhile, throws nearly half of its discretionary budget at the Pentagon, while millions can’t afford basic meds. So debt isn’t the problem—how you spend is.

“US has ‘free’ healthcare it’s just worse than non-existent.”

This is just flat-out wrong. The U.S. doesn’t have free healthcare. Medicare, Medicaid, and the VA serve limited populations. Everyone else deals with high premiums, co-pays, and surprise bills. It’s literally the most expensive healthcare system in the world and still leaves millions under- or uninsured. So, no—it’s not “free,” and it’s not “worse than non-existent.” It’s just expensive and dysfunctional.

“Plenty of countries have ‘large’ homeless populations.”

That’s not the flex you think it is. The U.S. has one of the highest homelessness rates in the developed world, especially when measured against GDP per capita and housing stock. Comparing yourself to failing models doesn’t excuse your own failure.

“None of this is a capitalism problem. It’s all the fault of poor governance.”

Okay, but governance is shaped by the economic system. Capitalism, unregulated or poorly regulated, gives outsized power to corporations and billionaires who influence policy to protect their interests. That’s how you end up with tax loopholes, underfunded social programs, and endless defense budgets. Governance doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s downstream of capitalism in practice. the system itself is easily corruptable, making it extremely flawed.

“They’d be in a far worse spot if they were at the mercy of their government for everything.”

You’re already at the mercy of someone, either corporations or government. One is profit-driven, the other at least theoretically answerable to voters, or at least “was”. Acting like total privatization leads to freedom is just libertarian fanfic. and utterly insane.

TL; because i know you DR: You’re trying to minimize systemic issues by pretending they’re just bad luck or bad governance. But when you zoom out, they’re structural, tied to how capitalism works in the U.S. and who holds the power. Stop gaslighting people with bootstraps logic, its fox news drivel, and its not respected here.

read more, you obviously need to. if anyone here is posting a “vibes based” response, its you dude. i get you have a hard on for the “free market” but if you knew one thing about economics you’d know that the US stock market is the most corrupt one on earth, literally redesigned over the decades to filter money and shares from suckers to big fish, who in turn use it as leverage against the governments of the world. So they can further their agendas of power, control, and wealth aquisition. Trump, the “president”, was literally purchased and placed in his seat by a man who leveraged his overpriced, artificially inflated “hype” stock as collateral to buy a social media platform so he could spread the same rhetoric and misinformation you are currently spreading. that is a feature of capitalism, along with recessions that increase in frequency decade after decade. all so they can reap the new crops of small businesses and assets of the people for a song.

if you have any questions or statements. Im happy to educate any readers of these comments, correctly, with my responses.

the department of defence spending is the single largest catagory within discretionary spending. 842 billion in 2024 alone. easily verifiable if you cared enough to even type it into google. or use the wayback machine for pre trump admin white washing of .gov websites if you like it raw. dont even attempt to lump in social security and medicaid together along with several other discretionary spending categories like a talking head at fox news would to make your “point”, thats misinformation, or straight up confusion on your part.

this isnt a vibe, its a fact. so, with all do respect, perhaps practice what you preach, and do your research.

then why is the american military the largest expenditure by the US government? why does the military industrial complex exist? why does the “richest nation on earth” have the largest debt, no free healthcare, a massive homeless population, but also the most billionaires? why do they survive by exploiting third world countries where people starve to death daily? why do they constantly undermine socialist and communist movements in other countries that have valuable resources? going so far as to assassinate popular leaders and trading them for puppet dictators?

thats literally capitalism living off the backs of the poor, and murdering them for profit, and they have to keep them poor so they can take advantage of them. thats why capitalism hates unions, labour laws, and social reform at home and abroad. it effects the bottom line and maximum profit margins. its inherent in the system, and a part of its structure. its what allows it to “work” in the first place. and whenever capitalism has its way, unchecked, the poor suffer and die as a result. through no fault of their own besides being born into an unequal society, with little or no opportunity because of their lack of starting capital, compared to the wealthier participants in the same system.

i implore you to read almost any book on american history and economics. the US itself was built on genocide and slavery for the purpose of profit, under the guise of freedom. and that simply evolved into different forms over the years, its still prevalent to this day.

i wish you well on your journey of self education on this topic.

just because we have shiny new inventions every year doesnt mean its working for everyone. the entire system of capitalism is based on taking advantage of the poor. to the point of killing them directly and indirectly en mass, through war and poverty related illness. so that the rich can own more property and assets.

its a horrible system.

what has PP done that isnt a talking point?

well he is a POS loser, and a dip shit moron. among other well earned accolades.

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nice

my elecrtronic engineering degree is laughing at you from across the room right now.

i agree to an extent, but we cant pretend that the wide space between cities, and rural towns doesnt exist. nor our very cold weather. making ebikes essentially useless for long distance commuters who already have to drive 30 minutes to 1.5 hours one way going 100km per hour. now imagine doing that same trip on an ebike in the middle of january where you can only go 35km to 50km max. this also neglects people with disabilities who otherwise are fine using their own vehicle when they have bo access to public transportation.

we simply do not have the infrastructure in this century. maybe some day. i hope. if we dont blow ourselves up first and stop electing people whos idea of progress is cutting programs that build a greener future.

by all means though, get an ebike if its feasible for you in your life style. just dont assume its the answer to everyone elses, we havent reached utopia level tech and production levels yet, lol.

whos to say this facility couldnt produce components for that system as well?

better yet, lets rebuild any factories to produce parts and vehicles for a nationalised electric vehicle company, to produce entry level electric vehicles so people can actually afford these fucking things.

i hope this very small group tries. the vast majority of albertans wouldnt stand for it. it may be what leads to her getting removed and potentially charged for treason, depending on what she does by the end.

that what happens when you’re a whiney little bitch and offer nothing of substance in return.

if your family income is less than 90k you can apply.

anybody making above that likely already has dental insurance, or can certainly afford to get it.

and this plan doesnt cover cosmetic dentistry. so no, no lazer teeth for you, lol. just cleanings, fillings, extractions, that sort of necessary dentistry for maintenance and health.

ive been saying this for years.

we need a bias label, and an ownership label, on the front of every newspaper and published story or “opinion piece article”. we need to know who owns what, and where they come from, and why they own it in the first place, and what their ties are. not a nice little bow on the end that say “the author, larry smith owns a dog and a cat in new york and is married, the end” but completely leaves out the part where “larry smith” donated to the proud boy movement and has been known to spread misinformation.

disclaimers on things like cigarettes and alcohol make sense, so does this. if something can cause harm, we should know about it before we even get involved with it.

ive had zero problems with it. in fact every canadian item ive bought over previous american purchases are far cheaper.

my wife keeps a list, and price compares everything, its her talent.

we have saved a shit load of money so far because the items we buy are cheaper, we also buy less overall, and find ways to recycle or upcycle things we own, and as far as groceries go we save our leftovers and meal prep, allowing us to have healthier, cheaper meals, that we cook to taste. we bake our own bread, make our own pasta, we make our own broth from bones and vegetables to can for various uses.

its been extremely rewarding so far.

you just gotta get creative with it. i find the joy it brings far outweighs the minute increase in difficulty while shopping.

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to demonstrate (politely) how quickly and quietly they can appear when we need them to. without endangering anyone or raising alarms that allow trump and co to rattle their sabers