" It is the dems who designed and passed it and all the problem lay at their feet. "

Nonsense.

The Dems designed O'Care with a required mandate to purchase. The Republicans "design" chopped off the mandate, hence the return to spiking costs.

You can't claim the Democrats designed what currently exists, after Republicans changed the central tenant.

" Time to quit calling it Obamacare."

It ceased being Obamacare the minute the Republicans cut off the mandate leg.

It's been Trumpcare since that moment. And Trumpcare sucks.

" Less than 1% of US citizens live below the International Poverty Rate."

As Snoofy has repeatedly pointed out, that's a meaningless statistic, since poor Americans aren't charged internationally cheap prices when they buy.

In America, roughly 10-11% fall below the American poverty rate line.

" Those conversations won't be under oath, and participants won't be legally compelled to answer every question. ..."

Admit it's going to be a dog-and-pony show without using those specific words.

Anytime Congress allows folks who don't want to go under oath to testify without going under oath ...

... the fix is in.

" Federal data found that 41,476 individuals were disqualified from SNAP"

Out of five million.

Roughly eight-tenths of one percent.

So, over 99% accurate ... and idiots are complaining.

" I support the safety net. I support SNAP."

Where?!? It's certainly not inside a voting booth.

" Every dollar taxed is money taken out of the economy."

Only if you believe there's no such thing as the multiplier effect ... something you've admitted exists.

" Ostensibly, ALL monies spent in the economy have a multiplier effect."

Just different multipliers. A dollar of tax cuts to the top produces less than a dollar of economic activity. Meanwhile, a dollar to the folks at the bottom produces well over a dollar of economic activity.

You enable the lesser multiplier.

" The whole "multiplier effect" has been proven to be such BS."

When?

I've been studying economics for over 50 years. I've yet to see the multiplier effect disproven.

Please link to your research.

Or is this one of those times you're just using "hyperbole"?

" I've heard this somewhere before...."

Watch a high-speed backlit sneeze, both with and without an N-95 mask.

Then answer: do symptoms increase with viral load, or not?

You either pass the simple logic test, or fail miserably.

Recently, it was reported investors lost $2.3 billion in a crypto scam, while the Trump family made $2.3 billion on the same crypto scam.

From AI:
Crypto ventures linked to the Trump family generated at least $2.3 billion in profits while retail investors and shareholders suffered nearly identical losses amid collapsing token values.

Any questions???

" For him, all I could think of was, as the exorcist, if he asked for his money up front."

And if he didn't get paid? THEY GOT REPOSSESSED!

(It's like the comedy writes itself!)

"These people didn't pay for a dime of the resources we have"

Look up the term "sweat equity" and get back to us.

And remind us ... who gets the overpayments into the Social Security system???

It's also quite valuable after the mortgage is paid off. TI is a lot cheaper than PITI.

" It's only a gain if you sell it. Until then it's a tax liability."

You're joking, right?

Equity in homes is often used as collateral for loan qualifications. The most common example is a HELOC.

"Somebody's pants are on fire..."

Gee, d'you think it's the folks who lie to us daily?

"Moreover, Schiltz linked the subpoenas to what he called "the Trump administration's well-established history of using criminal investigations to retaliate against and pressure the President's political and personal adversaries."

Notice how the folks who screeched about Biden's weaponization of the DOJ (without ever finding any) are SILENT on this blatant weaponization of the DOJ?

"Its always fascinating to read how the DEBT is only one parties fault."

Pick up a history book, ffs. One party unilaterally chose to reset America's fiscal sights from Surplusville to Debtsylvania.

"From homeless, destitute, penniless, no assets but the shirt on my back to made a difference because nobody else was going to do it for me."

Growing up, I heard that line again and again. My dad was the manager of an industrial canning manufacturer, which he left to become a realtor. The latter is self-employed.

He taught me how he had to put away money regularly, because nobody else was going to do it for him. It was excellent advice, especially for a kid who ended up making most of his money by being self-employed. At 29, I started saving. At 31, I became an aggressive saver. When I met the bride a decade later, I talked her into becoming an aggressive saver as well. When we paid off the house (13 yrs early), we doubled our twice-monthly savings.

Because of all that, she got to retire a little early, and I chose to work an extra 6 years, simply because I wanted to. That allowed us to take money out of taxable IRAs at a very low rate, and stuff it into our Roth IRAs. Now we'll bring in more money after taxes in retirement than we used to. take home when we both worked.

SAVING is the key. Starting young is the trick. Coverting to Roths when it's the cheapest is for the savviest.

"But rent, housing in general, and other expenses of exploded in cost for these kids"

And wages didn't keep up. That leads to an eventual breaking point, says Math.

"This source says it's only 58%,"

For you, maybe.

I graduated very early in the fourth quarter of the last millennium.

"the environment is much harder today. But the advice stays the same."

There's a Dickens passage...I know I bastardize the quote, but the concept is:

Twenty pounds annual income, 19 pounds annual expenditure...bliss. Twenty pounds annual income, 21 pounds annual expenditure...misery.

I tell seminar students it's the truest line about finances I've ever known: Live beneath your means.

Good eats ...
www.dartagnan.com

Agreed!

The bride started sourcing from them during Covid. Now, it's our go-to for duck, Berkshire pork chops, and lamb. It's completely ruined me for restaurant duck.

Expensive, but worth it. And scads less than we'd pay at a restaurant for that taste.

"Kids need to learn to live within their means"

When I graduated college, I had educational debt representing six months of income in my degree's profession. Today's students graduate with 2-3 years worth of debt. That's a huge foundational difference. Combine that with wage growth that hasn't kept up with cost growth for decades, and folks get more and more squeezed.

That said, I have a saying/barometer: If you have tats, but no IRAs, you're doing it wrong.

"IPO's are always rigged to benefit the insiders of the companies and wall street."

Yep.

I liken it to six-man poker, with the other five folks in one room showing each other their hands.