iNow

So roughly 10 per million had these events… 1 per 100,000. They neither discuss how common these events are in the general unvaccinated population for comparison nor acknowledge how much higher the risk from Covid is absent vaccination. Good times. I’m once again reminded how frequently people seek out information supporting their preexisting conclusions instead of applying any level of rigor or critical thought to the actual scale and context of the problem whatsoever.

Since our OP ignored it the first time

There's not enough information in your question to offer a meaningful answer.

You mean, highlighting the flaws in your thinking and approach? Yeah, I can see why you'd prefer that not to happen.

So, a poetic version of the observation leading to wave function collapse… is that what you’re trying for with that cryptic post above?

Ahh… of course. Thanks. I sort of stopped watching Lucy pull the football away from this particular Charlie Brown. First, Trump was to retake office on Inauguration Day, January 20. Then that came and went and he was to retake office on March 4. Then that came and went and he was to retake office on August 13. Now that’s come and gone so the date has slipped to September 13. PT Barnum was right. There’s a sucker born every minute.

You seem to be confusing “logic” with that which “feels like common sense” to you. The universe is under no obligation to make sense to our feeble human minds. I’d much rather say we don’t yet know than to pretend we know whilst clinging to comfortable fictions and fairy tales.

Sorry. Dumb question. What’s the relevance of January 18?

I realize I made an error here. Countries can have a budget surplus while also being in debt. I've conflated deficit with debt in error with my comment above. The more accurate answer to @beecee's question is yes, there is 1 country currently considered debt-free according to the IMF and that is Macau (famous gambling region in China just outside of Hong Kong, which itself comes very close to being debt-free)

It's strange to me that you keep trying to force an atheist / theist dichotomy into the subject of suicide prevention. Unless you have data suggesting that belief / disbelief in deities is relevant here, then you really should consider stopping.

Valid point. I find myself in agreement.

Thank you. It's generally better IMO when one finds their own path to the correct answer than when they have it handed to them by someone else. Yes. There are nearly 30 countries right now that are working from a budget surplus (some larger than others): https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-with-the-top-budget-surplus.html

Premise requires confirmation / evidence

Look it up then. Why guess? This question has an answer

Right, but as evidenced right there in the subject… this was about the US Economy Wait, what? Will you please clarify what you’re trying to say here?

There’s no objective metric for this. It depends on how you measure it and who you ask. The way you’ve framed the question, however, is like “on a scale of 1 to awesome, how many chili dogs is this” and that leaves us wanting. Again… benefit for whom, and by what measure? Right, and also to others… some of whom I referenced before you made this post. Wait, what? Will you please clarify what you’re trying to say here? Again, nice try, but NO. I didn’t make a claim. I highlighted how the source you provided for yours was found lacking. Also, to repeat… I find the US military budget extremely bloated and would much prefer those expenditures redirected elsewhere. I just can’t allow such simplistic and elementary errors of thought such as yours to stand in a discussion that itself has real answers that are not opinion-based. We can spend money on other things even if we do nothing whatsoever about our bloated military budget. The debt only becomes a problem if we’re prevented from cheaply taking on more or raising revenues to reduce it. Neither of those limitations exist today, nor are they likely to present themselves at any time in the near future.

Nice try at trying to shift the burden of proof to me, but I’m not the one making the claims ergo the onus is yours. Depends on what’s being paid for and from whom it was borrowed. Was that a genuine question?

You didn’t answer my questions. Why should I answer yours? Admit it… for a brief second there you wanted to downvote me. 😂 Perhaps, or perhaps it’s a simple visual way to notify less informed / less familiar future readers that maybe the posts of this person aren’t of the same quality as posts from others such as you.

Why not both? What about when ones explanations repeatedly fall upon deaf ears and blind eyes? What about when the poster shared something truly bigoted, hateful, and foul? It’s fine if your personal religion encourages you to avoid such things, but why force that choice on to everyone else? Are we not good enough or mature enough in your opinion to be granted the freedom to use the system ourselves as we each see fit (so long as we’re not abusing the system or breaking the rules to which we all agreed upon joining the community here)?

I am fine redirecting our bloated defense budget on to better expenditures, but the opinion pieces above don’t account for jobs created in the industry nor how the people working them have invested into their communities or sent their kids to better schools to become job creators themselves, nor how the protections our military gives to our global allies improve trade treaties, etc. Anyway, this thread is about debt and while defense expenditures play a big role in that, it’s not the biggest. Its also a mistake to treat this as a zero sum game where we’re all fighting for the same one pie… or as pure cost when they’re actually investments with returns. There are surely better investments to be made, but putting money into X doesn’t mean we lack money to put into Y, especially not when we’re discussing the US government which can print money and collect additional revenue with the stroke of a pen. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/u-s-federal-governments-spending-data-single-unified-data-set/

Then support this conclusion. Maybe you’re right. Maybe you’re FOS. Your suspicions, however, will convince nobody. The US is not equivalent to Venezuela or Zimbabwe in the way you’re trying to suggest How so, specifically? As I noted above, the risk posed by debt is others will become unwilling to lend to us at favorable interest rates. Last I checked, interest rates on lending to the US remain at historic lows.

Those issues are valid. They deserve attention and resolution. They are also different from “debt is bad” which was the subject under discussion here. The OP was simplistic to the point of being useless though, so it probably doesn’t matter.