Erik Katz wants your money
So this fresh-faced fellow, Erik Katz, who has never spent a day in uniform joins in with every other fucknut who thinks they know about military service and decides that he knows how to save the Pentagon from sequestration. Of course, his intellect is mud-puddle deep, so like all of the other dorks, goes straight to personnel cuts;
The most significant compensation reduction option, CBO found, would come from cutting retirement pay for veterans already receiving disability payments from the Veterans Affairs Department. Prior to 2004, military retirees — former personnel with 20 years of service — had their retirement pay reduced by the amount of any VA disability compensation they also received. Moving back to that system would save Defense $108 billion over the next decade, according to CBO.
The non-partisan budget office said the current system compensates disabled veterans twice for their service, but the two payments reward “different characteristics of military service.”
We, in the business call it “concurrent receipt”, Erik, and it took decades to straighten that stuff out. What baby-face GWU-grad here wants to happen is veterans who are more than 50% disabled would be made to fund their own disability from their retirement pay because people who have a disability less than 50% already have their retirement pensions reduced by the amount of their disability payments.
You know what I would do if I was looking to save money for the government and I wanted to look like a smart guy (instead of throwing in with the rest of the hacks)? I’d stop trying to hammer the little guy. I’d write about how much money could be saved if we cut retirement benefits for Congress members. I’d figure how much could be saved if we cut costs on the lavish lifestyle of flag officers and their staffs. I certainly wouldn’t go after disabled veterans who can’t work and depend on every penny they get in return for their service and sacrifice. But, hey, how can I expect some pimple-faced, snot-nosed journalism student to understand what sacrifice means, right? Shame on me.
Oh, GFY, Erik.
Category: Veterans Issues
Or maybe Erik Katz could suck it up and enlist, spend a few years in combat boots placing his ass on the line, and I certainly hope nothing bad would happen to him that would cause him permanent injury or illness as a result…
Right, like that would ever happen. Much easier to sit behind a desk and be pompous little prick.
Erik, the biggest waste of money in the history of the USA was your expenditure for what passes as “education”. Obviously you missed the day that research was taught. Assclown.
Got-Damn beaver cleaver there looks like he has not a fucking M1A1, one each, issued pubic hair.
/jebus
Erik, you twinkle toed little shit, why don’t you come personally and take my goddamn disability, you know nothing sack of bones. Goddamn!! I hate a fucking piece of shit non-veteran try to tell me what I need.
Did this little fucks parents have any kids that lived??
I have a MUCH
I just hate this new keyboard. It’s made for someone with microhands. Or none.
What I was saying was:
I have a MUCH better idea, Eric, you wetnosed gobslobbering ignorant codpiece clamp.
Start a GOFUNDME campaign so that taxpaying citizens AND illegal aliens can kick in a few bucks here & there from their paychecks. That money can then go to enlisted pensions & disability payments.
Oh, wait – isn’t there something already in place like that? Yeah – income tax.
Seriously, these econ pseudo-geniuses should take the time to do research on the subjects they write about before they ever set fingers on the smartphone keypads. They end up looking SO stupid when they are SO lazy.
Dig deep, Eric. You might have a good idea some day… maybe after I’m dead.
This really makes you feel secure to have our country being run by little fuckheads like this. Obama will probably want him in his inner circle. He could look a little like Monica Lewinsky gone butch.
Quoting the CBO….that’s the problem. The CBO is not the GAO, the CBO uses numbers provided by folks looking for a result. That’s why the ACA numbers are so far off and why the CBO can’t predict a proper budget for a single year…unlike the GAO the CBO is under no obligation to cross reference numbers and make the connection between actual data and estimated data.
CBO noted pay for military personnel exceeds that of 80 percent of “comparable civilians,” but restricting future raises could compromise future recruiting and retention.
Of course having worked in the comparable civilian fields since leaving the military 30 years ago there’s really no comparison. If I make overtime mandatory I must pay 1.5 times the hourly rate. Even exempt workers can’t be forced to work the kinds of shifts the military requires from its’ personnel so there is no ability to create a proper apples to apples comparison. I would be charged with kidnapping and attempted slavery if I forced personnel to remain out of the country because I wasn’t able to properly hire replacements for my workers. The military has none of that concern. You go where they tell you, when they tell, and for however long they tell you. PERIOD. Or you face criminal charges. In the civilian world an employee tells me to fuck off and storms out and I still have to pay them for the day, and any earned benefits due them when they return for their check or I face criminal charges.
Maybe 24 year old journalism wannabees ought to voice opinions about something they actually understand like beer pong and video games and leave the heavy lifting to those people actually doing the heavy lifting or who have done it and are familiar with appropriate comparable scenarios.
I wonder if this little douchenozzle would like his contract altered post facto without recourse? I suspect he would cry like the little bitch he appears to be forever and a day.
Yep
I love it when a privileged kid like this from a prestigious school decides to weigh in. They all try to sound so intellectual and well thought out. What they really show is their lack of experience, lack of common sense and naivete. Bet his professor gave him an A on that report. Dumb ass. Get your head out of academia for while, say 20 years, then sound off. If you sound the same, you will be in a lot of other good, hack company but at least the adults won’t point and laugh at you.
Anybody care to place a wager on whether or not this needle-dick “intellectual” thinks he should get fast-tracked into a $400k/year job and get a major bonus in top of it for this brilliant little “cost-saving” idea? Add on that he’s also yet another of those liberals who just plain looks like a loud-mouth pussy begging to get his ass beat.
I say this as a non-veteran. Erik Katz can suck my dick.
Since this can of worm has been opened. Why is/should my retirement doc’d in any way for disability? Lets tke two examples both Vets both with the same rating but one made it to retirement. The Vet who made it to retirement is now penalize because they served longer. In what twisted world it this even close to fair? They legitimately earned both so why shouldn’t they be able to receive both? One should have absolutely nothing to do with the other.
Yeah, seriously, fuck this motherfucker. You earn your retirement pay by putting in 20 years, disability you earn when you get disabled in the line of duty. This guy can go straight to hell. You want to have wars, then you need to take care of the people who fight them. PERIOD.
Yesterday, when we had the border thread, Jonn quoted some bureaucrat and I posted his $200K/yr salary. When we had the thread about the VA hearings in the House and some other bureaucratic hack testified, I posted her $150K/yr salary.
Both of those are comparable with what general officers make in salary and there are hundreds of comparable bureaucrats throughout government. In the case of either of those individuals, can it be fairly said that they are earning their pay? But of course Eric wouldn’t dream of cutting their pay, because government employees are a key Democratic constituency.
Since Erik wishes to engage in such shallow thinking, I’ll do so as well.
Just look at that picture, does anyone honestly expect anything better out of such an obvious mouth breather?
Actually I think I’ll retract that statement.
After reading through the article a couple of times it occurred to me that the kid didn’t offer this article as a personal stance or opinion, but simply as a report on what the CBO and even some Pentagon officials have attempted and/or suggested.
Nothing in the article suggests a course of action based on his own opinion, and for that matter he never really says whether or not he agrees with the suggestions made by others. Reads more like reporting than journalism.
Not an opinion piece. Lol.
A lot of people need to do more reading and comprehending before running their mouth.
Eric Katz joined Government Executive in the summer of 2012 after graduating from The George Washington University, where he studied journalism and political science. He has written for his college newspaper and an online political news website and worked in a public affairs office for the Navy’s Military Sealift Command. Most recently, he worked for Financial Times, where he reported on national politics.
Not really an impressive resume. It’s thin on actual experience and intentionally vague about positions. For example, his profile listed at his current employer says he reported for an online political news site but doesn’t name the site – doesn’t pass the smell test. He’s easy to find on linked-in, and I’d like to know if anyone here knew him and what he actually did as an INTERN with the Navy Sealift Command PAO? IMO – he successfully BS’s his resume with his current employer who will probably get a lot of backlash for this little opinion piece and should probably have dug a little deeper into his actual experience before hiring him… Of course, since I’m not familiar with defenseone.com, this may be the exact type of garbage they put out on a regular basis…
Like I said, it’s not really an opinion piece, he doesn’t offer a single opinion in the entire article.
I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves by going after him for something he really hasn’t done.
As for his light resume, everyone has to start somewhere.
Yep, your right. Thanks for catching my mistake – I re-read and realized I did miss a reference to CBO in one paragraph that I incorrectly concluded was his opinion. So, this isn’t an opinion piece as I stated in my comment… He does appear to only be regurgitating the CBO report…. Standing down..
What the fuck are you thinking? You realized you might have misspoken, admitted it, in public none the less. What the hell kind of example are you setting? If your kind of bullshit catches on, these fakers and embellishers will see your sly tactics and might start using them. Next thing you know all of them will start manning up and this whole site will go to shit. We have to nip this in the bud before it gets out of hand. Knock it off.
🙂
One could only hope..
Here’s How the Pentagon Could Save $108 Billion Over the Next Decade
That’s his headline, and the focus of the article is a review of the CBO proposal. If his editor made him write the piece I suspect the headline would have read:
CBO report on controlling DoD budget costs focuses on personnel, not materiel.
The difference a headline makes is very telling for me, but I confess an obsessive attention to literal interpretation of the written word.
For me the words “Here’s how” indicates his advice on the CBO report. That’s a tacit endorsement of the report as I read the words.
Perhaps it’s just poor use of the language and the reality is he’s still learning his trade. Distancing yourself from the subject matter isn’t hard to do if you have any ability with the language and he would be well served to step in that direction lest he end up with the rest of the “unbiased” journalists that so many of these great institutions are churning out these days.
In any event if he’s going to write tripe he should be prepared for a bad review or three and grow a nice thick skin.
If “obsessive attention to literal interpretation of the written word” is really your weakness, then you should be in my camp on this VOV.
“Here’s how the Pentagon Could Save $108 Billion Over the Next Decade” literally translates as ‘here’s how they could do it’, or ‘here’s what they’re talking about doing’. “Here’s how” is simply a preparatory or illustrative phrase concerning what the CBO and the Pentagon are exploring; it in no way espouses an opinion on the part of the author.
It’s basic grammar.
$108 billion over 10 years.
Annual budgets are running about $4.3 trillion.
screwing disabled veterans, THAT will make a difference.
Stupid twatwafflle oxygen thief.
If about half of foreign welfare aid was cut it would pay the entity of that. It would also cover the commissary crisis.
Our government basically thinks foreigners are entitled to our tax dollars more than we are. Shocking I know…
We are are overreacting. Money can only be cut from places where it is spent. The article was pointing out that if the pentagon wants to prioritize current warfighting capabilities (weapons, active troops, retention) the other place to cut (where there’s money, so while we should cut the flag officer’s car to the golf course, the savings won’t mean much) is in the large number of retirees.
Not my preferred COA and I’m not defending reducing retiree benefits, but you can only stop spending money where you currently spend money. It’s not unreasonable or beyond the pale to point that out. Want to pay retirees and be able to fight wars? Probably need to cut somewhere else in the budget and leave the DOD alone.
In response to all the suggestions that we draft this kid: volunteers pose enough behavioral problems. Guys in my platoon & company who had volunteered for the military, volunteered for the Marine Corps and volunteered for the infantry (minimum ASFAB scores for infantry would also let you be a box kicker, cook or driver among others) still had some among them who were fat, lazy, went UA etc. The purpose of the military is to fight wars, it’s not a civics class. I’ll take the volunteers with whom I was privileged to serve over draftees any day.
Try cutting the number of civil service employees and replacing them with lower-cost military in the same slots.
Civil service wages are considerably higher than basic pay and allowances for military personnel. If you live on-base in barracks housing, as I did, you don’t get the BAQ allowance in your paycheck. You don’t have insurance premiums (except for a POV), you don’t have a lot of the expenses that are associated with civilian living. You don’t even have to buy clothes except to replace what gets worn out, and half the time, I could find stuff in the lucky bag.
And as far as retirement stuff is concerned (and I don’t know if this applies in other states), in Illinois, state employees get a pension and medical/dental care, plus social security, unless they are teachers. If they retire before SocSec full retirement age, then when they are eligible for SocSec, their state pension is reduced by the amount of their Social Security retirement income.
I believe with military pensions, you still get Social Security in addition to your military pension, just as you would with any other corporation. So why should your pension be reduced?
Excellent idea.
Actually, Ex-PH2, in general military labor for equivalent jobs is about the same cost – or higher – than hiring a civilian to do the same job.
The reason for that is the benefits differential. While military salaries are lower, the cost of benefits (housing allowance, rations, retirement, medical) is substantially higher. And after initial training, nowhere near as many young troops end up staying in unaccompanied personnel housing as was the case 30 years ago. In fact, some installations appear to have entered into partnerships with commercial firms to build and operate on-post quarters for junior personnel. As I understand it, the occupants draw BAQ and pay rent. I could be wrong.
Bottom line: having a professional, well trained and high-tech military without a draft simply is not cheap.
I have a great idea about where we can save money and eliminate a shit-ton of fraud, waste and abuse.
All we have to do is shut down the Department of Education, Department of Energy and the biggest fucking shit stain of them all, the IRS.
Both DoE’s have failed – Education failed since these kids are coming out stupider every year; Energy failed since it was supposed to make us LESS dependent on foreign energy, and the IRS is a fucking scam – just go with a flat tax.
As for veterans and disabilities – the Government should just pay for their Cadillac insurance policy and let the vets go wherever they like for treatment and keep the VA just focused on the things that they are actually good at.
And Erik, Go Fuck Yourself.
Opinion piece or not, it still takes a set of stones for someone who has no idea which end of the bang stick the hurty thingy comes out of to tell me as a retired veteran of the Marine Corps infantry that I need to sit by while Concurrent Receipt goes away in order to fund a bunch of bullshit entitlement programs. No thank you.
Well you’ll be happy to know that he didn’t actually tell you that you had to do anything. So…no ‘stones’ needed. 🙂
All he did is report what the CBO and the Pentagon are suggesting, and offered no personal opinion on it at all. As a reporter should.
Well here might be the reason they gave this to this oxygen thief. Look at his bio: “Eric Katz joined Government Executive in the summer of 2012 after graduating from The George Washington University, where he studied journalism and political science. He has written for his college newspaper and an online political news website and worked in a public affairs office for the Navy’s Military Sealift Command. Most recently, he worked for Financial Times, where he reported on national politics.” Public Affairs for the Sealift Command? I’m no squid, but that sounds like a billet far from the sound of the guns, so to speak. So just because he did a stint, possibly, at the divisional staff level or higher (once again, not navy, don’t claim to know their structure, he thinks he knows what life is like for the grunts in the field. I’ll give you a little news flash there, you oxygen-thieving pretty boy. There is a reason we are paid a lot more to be an IT person in the Army (my lane), because there may be a day that Michelle calls and says “send the airborne” and we have to jump somewhere within 18 hours. while carrying my laptop, and everything I need to fight for at least 72 hours. This usually works out to anywhere from 80 to 150 lbs of gear. Then once I am on the ground, I have to maintain IT communications under what the DOD lovingly calls ‘austere conditions’. BULL@#$T!! I am in conditions that most people in the United States would not DREAM of setting foot in (buring oilfields of Kuwait ring a bell?) And you have the unimitgated audacity to tell me that that IT guy is getting paid more than his peers in a comprable job? That pay was earned in literal blood, sweat, and tears. Our soldiers sacrifice the best years of their lives for our country, the least we can do as a nation is honor their service by taking care of them. But you’d know that if you’d been ‘outside the wire'(or whatever the navy… Read more »
RayRaytheSBS…First, thank you for serving. Second, Here-Here! I couldn’t have said it better!
Excellent rant except for one thing, where did Erik offer his opinion?
Is he paying you a retainer, counselor?
I was under the impression that if he wrote this, that meant he backed it as an idea. And if he backs it as an idea, he was supporting it as his opinion. I may be incorrect in that assessment, But I am willing to admit it. Knuckle-Dragger though I may be, I seriously doubt this Oxygen-thief of a reporter will do us the same courtesy and say that his idea was a bad one.
Of all the resumes and job apps filled out over the decades, not sure that “writing a column for the college newspaper” ever made it on one of mine. Wow. No telling how many opportunities I missed by failing to do that.
Sure. Yeah, right.
Meanwhile, if writing easily misunderstood pieces is your idea of enhancing your paying gig prospects, Erik, then ya done good.
Of course, depending, he may or may not have written the headline.
The only reason I initially mis-understood the piece was because I went into it with a chip on my shoulder because of Jonn’s initial reaction to it. Once I actually read it, it was glaringly obvious that it wasn’t something to get angry at the author about.
It’s a shame we’ve all become so lazy about understanding or using basic grammar that we don’t recognize good grammar when it’s in use.
The level of asshattery in this thread is beyond the pale, even for this place.
We have a clearly disingenuous topic posted by Mr. Lilyea, further proving that milbloggers do more harm than good. Unless we’re supposed to believe someone charged with the responsibility of maintaining official records for the NRO is real lacking this much in comprehension.
Followed by the nut huggers who absolutely refuse to concede that Mr. Lilyea is wrong. Which is pretty much doubling down on dumb as it’s been established this wasn’t an opinion piece.
Compounded upon by the real brainiacs who effectively state that they don’t care if it clearly isn’t an opinion piece, because that doesn’t fit their agenda or partisan leanings.
And because well, this guy went to….gasp…college.
Un-fucking-real.
He went to GWU, which by my standards is a not a good school. GWU is where all the Georgetown rejects go. What do I know I only went to Duke after I was medically retired as a FMF Corpsman in 2008.
The issue people have is this 24 year old has no business writing about military retirement. He has no real life experience.
Since personal experience is a quantifier for opinion on this site, and particularly in this thread, when did you attend GWU? Because for your opinion on the university to be valid, according to the BTDT crowd, you must have attended to form such an opinion.
Were you an EMT or Paramedic before you became an FMF Doc? (Thanksfor that btw…Doc is always golden.) Because if not, then what makes you think you rated that position in the beginning? Your training did, that’s how you rated,
The reporter is doing what he’s trained to do, report. He offered no personal opinion, despite what some on this site “misinterpret” from the article. If you really can’t tell the difference between an opinion piece and a report, then my (uninformed as I’ve not attended Duke) opinion on the uni just went in the shitter.
So, what’s your bitch exactly? If the guy put his name on the article, he must think it’s a good idea. Have you read the comments at the link? Do I need to spoon feed you?
Quick shut the site down! Wait a minute, not the part about fakers go ahead and keep that part up. Add a section to buy cool shit cause I be wantin dat ass hat. I be streachin the limits of that GED I got, but isnt you afraid of pissing off some peoples?
By your “logic”, a journalist who reports on the crime beat somehow supports crime.
Brilliant.
I see you’re a big fan of Jonn and the site in general.
Hussar
Actually, I think the exposing of frauds and phonies is great work, and he should be commended for it.
But the rest is just total horseshit.
What exactly is your beef with the rest of the “horseshit” on this site.
Well then don’t go away mad motherfucker, just go away…..
I love that. Simple and to the point. NCOs, gotta love’m
Are you a Veteran or current servicemember? If not, let me fill you in on something. Veterans, especially grunts, have strong opinions and special kind of sense of humor. If you don’t understand that this may not be the site for you. In closing, fuck off.
I am a veteran (0311).So all the keyboard chestbeating makes me laugh.
Now, do you have anything based on the topic to offer?
Who’s chestbeating? If simply telling you that this site might not be for you is chestbeating I would question your status of an 0311. Surely as a grunt you dealt with legitimate insults. What’s your beef with this site and particularly this post.
Um, I didn’t say you were chestbeating. Read, think, read again, then respond.
My beef with this site? It, like other milblogs, pumps out oft uninformed bullshit. I like doing my tiny little part to counter it.
It’s like DU for the right.
As the Gunny said, don’t like my position, door is that way ——->
Sorry…should have edited better before I clicked submit…that should read “Master Guns.”
“[TAH], like other milblogs, pumps out oft uninformed bullshit. I like doing my tiny little part to counter it.” Golly, Hussar, where would we be without you? Thank you so very much for setting us straight, for shining your light, allowing us to see what we otherwise could not. It is wonderful that you have identified yourself, at long last, as a Veteran, a USMC rifleman, no less. I bet the commandant wept when you took your permanent leave of the Corps. Well, we have you now, thank goodness!
You can have an opinoin, thats the beauty of this site. But, you shitting on everybody else’s opinoins is getting pretty fucking old. So the reason you have wadded panties is because people here are calling it an opinion piece. What are some of the other uninformed stories on this site? This isn’t an academic site. Most of the shit on here is stuff to laugh and poke fun at.
Hussar, just where do you actually get the information that people who comment on threads here are uninformed?
If I read an opinion piece, or a sloppily put together article by a cub reporter like Katz and rebut it, it’s because my viewpoint is that he hasn’t been any further out in the world than his apartment building and his desk at work. And frankly, by the time I had reached his age, I had been out in the world and was better informed than he was about a helluva a lot of things. So if I choose to rebut what he said based on my own experience, who the hell are you to say that my opinion, or that of anyone else who posts comments here, is bull shit? Huh?
We can all agree to disagree on our take of Katz’s article, but frankly, including a college newspaper on your resume says in plain English that you ain’t got no basis for an opinion unless you do a better job of researching the material. The CBO is, as others have pointed out, NOT the proper source for an article like the one that Katz wrote.
And you are so far off-base in your low opinion of people here that your only purpose seems to be nothing more than a ploy for attention and a chance to make disdainful remarks toward people.
You are, in fact, the epitome of the low info commenter.
What part of it not being an opinion piece can’t you grasp?
What part of ‘an opinion piece, or a sloppily put together article’ do YOU not comprehend? Are you intentionally being rude, or do you simply have an inflated opinion of yourself?
Since the popular opinion on his piece is that since he hasn’t served he doesn’t rate to report on this, what’s your journalist background that rates you having the expertise to determine it is sloppily put together?
No one has to have a JOURNALIST background to know when something is sloppily researched, lackwit.
So, no. Got it.
See below, you measle-pocked codpiece clamp.
So Jacobite and Hussar, just because you say that little Erik didn’t offer an opinion, all of us are supposed to suppress ours. I think the inference was pretty goddamn clear. He can quote all the fucking numbers he wants from the CBO, the GAO or the fucking NFL for all I care. The gist of the article is that veterans giving up their benefits and ENTITLEMENTS will somehow give the fucking trillion dollar Pentagon budget just the boost it needs to stay on track. THAT is how I read it. You don’t like my interpretation, go fuck yourselves sideways.
Hussar, I try to give you the benefit of the doubt because sometimes you post some thought provoking shit. But I guess you have decided to go true colors and be the dick I suspected you were. And Jacobite, we are all allowed an opinion. That is half the fun of posting here. Right, wrong or indifferent. And will get angry at whoever the fuck I choose too. I don’t need a snot nosed neophyte trying to tell me which way is up. Experience and fucking gravity do that for me.
And I say again, for the sake of clarity, you don’t like my interpretation, feel free to go get bent. Clear enough for you?
A great deal of “opinion” gets printed as “news” as anyone who has any experience with journalism knows. I went over to defenseone-they don’t have a straight up “op-ed” section (as near as I can tell). They do have “ideas” and “politics”-this piece was published under “management”, whatever that is. He clearly didn’t exhaust the list of how the Pentagon could save whatever amount of money over the next x years or how money is being misspent by the government in other areas that could be used to make up a shortfall. You can get your message out by careful omission of other facts or alternatives and still call it “news”,
Neophyte? Lol, while I didn’t follow Jonn at his previous blog gig, I’ve been a participating member of this one since it’s first year I believe. (Jonn please correct me if I’m wrong.)
As I’m retired military myself, (Jonn has my info if you’re in doubt), I hardly think I qualify as a neophyte from that angle either.
Sorry I bruised your ego, but you’re right, half the fun of posting here is getting to air our opinions, and I was doing so. If you don’t like my observations, you also are invited to participate in the extra-curricular activities you suggest. 🙂
Don’t like the conclusions drawn by the CBO and don’t like ’em presented as a solution to all our ills – as others have noted, there are MUCH fatter chickens to roast before we screw around with disability etc.
However, I also know that the reporter almost never writes the headline. Editors do that.
To be clear about one thing, I don’t agree with any of the presented CBO or Pentagon solutions either.
As many here have already pointed out, there are plenty of other places to trim fat in Washington. They can leave our retirement and disability programs alone unless they decide to actually improve them.
This is for Hussar.
If you want to pick a fight over nothing, which is always the ploy of the attention whore – that’s you, Hussar – you’ll have to wait until later on this afternoon or evening. I have a boatload of work to do.
However, since I did NOT specify what, if any, journalistic background I have as a basis for my statement that no one HAS to have such a background to determine sloppy research or non-sloppy research, you made the false assumption that I have no background of any kind, including research, and for some obscure reason that means I have no right to form an opinion of my own.
This is completely not true, and you know it.
I do find it consistent on your part that you choose to not read for comprehension or context, but instead cherry-pick terms and phrases to suit your need to pick a fight with someone. It defines you.
Later, obfuscator.
I’m simply taken the established standard here (you must have done X to comment on X.) and applying it.
I know it’s not in a way that you either cannot grasp or upsets you because it doesn’t fit your agenda, but that really isn’t my problem.
And I’d be lying if I said I eagerly await your (nonsensical) response.
I believe that Ex-PH2 was quite plain in responding to your snide remark, Hussar.
There is NO requirement of for research experience in responding to any publication on any subject. Disagreeing with someone’s conclusion does not require anything other than the ability to make a coherent statement. There is NO such established standard or requirement.
You chose to avoid reading for comprehension and/or context; in fact, you bypassed it with a deflective statement that is also a false assumption on your part. You’ve done this regularly in this thread.
When someone does not specify “I’ve done such-and-such research”, that does not mean, nor does it imply, that the person in question has not done research nor does it imply a lack of anything at all.
You, on the other hand, are simply using this thread as an opportunity to bait people and needle them over absolutely nothing, so that you are now the center of attention instead of Katz’s article.
Hey!! Everybody!! Look here! Hussar the Blustering Obfuscator wants attention!!! Let’s give it to him!
He’s pulling a psulie-o the uncoolie-o, a DABfest of deflecting blather, a foaming mimicry of the Fromage Gobbler. He may even have a mild case of the Dullass Witlessandwandering.
He’s co-opted this thread for himself. Let him have it!!!!!
Marine Veteran Rifleman Hussar: Let us agree that the article at issue is not an opinion piece. Let us further agree that it cannot be reasonably construed to be an opinion piece. Consequently, anyone who regards the piece as one would an editorial is mistaken. So, why are you harping on this matter? Why have you planted your flag here, in a thread having nothing to do with frauds or phonies; that is, in the very type of thread you claim to disregard as horseshit? Do you have a miniscule pecker? Were you potty trained at gunpoint? What compels you to return here to make the same point, ad nauseum?
Because this “kid” (lots of kids with no experience have done a lot of fighting for this country in the past.) is being maligned by a pack of blowhards with and agenda for something he didn’t do.
A search for his name brings this thread up. So now, due to the inference of him wanting to push wounded vets off a cliff and blow all their money on PBR at some crappy DC hipster bar, and due to the low brow partisanship culture of American politics, he’s suspect.
Which is fine when dealing with any journalist, an occupation I am not a big fan of, when the discourse or disagreement is based on fact. But, as demonstrated by most in this thread (and the argument that a similar report for instance that would twist leftist panties would also be completely taken out of context is completely valid.) that just isn’t possible.
Yet the most number of posts on this topic are made by the guy complaining about the number and content of posts on this topic. Interesting.
Nope. No irony there at all. No hypocrisy either. But there might be just a tad bit of projection going on.
“A search for his name brings this thread up. So now, due to the inference of him wanting to push wounded vets off a cliff and blow all their money on PBR at some crappy DC hipster bar, and due to the low brow partisanship culture of American politics, he’s suspect.”
Your words, Hussar.
WE did not say that. YOU did.
And nowhere in that article by Kastz does he say, or even imply, that his intention on writing it was to divert any government funding to himself.
That is what YOU said, and no one else did, including Katz.
“Erik Katz wants your money”
Speaking of comprehension………..
Such a condescending little prick. I don’t know why you’re getting your panties in a wad over such trivial things. The main sentiment on this thread is frustration over the idea that is brought up time and time again, that veterans shoulder more of the financial burden. As a veteran, or so you claim to be, does that not bother you when there are much easier ways to cut spending without effecting the the individual veteran.
“I’ve said my piece, and it’s abundantly clear that my position was the correct one.”
So much for everyone having their say on the matter. Guess we all should just stop talking now. Lord Hussar has made his decree.
Hussar, I think you have an overinflated sense of self worth.
Marine Veteran Rifleman Hussar:
Okay, so you are standing up for this 24 or 25-year-old reporter who is (whether he knows it or not) being victimized here. And the reason you continually post comments in this thread, I suppose, is that others are posting comments that perpetuate that victimization. Okay. So, at some point, I again suppose, either they or you will cease the comments that both victimize Kid Kratz and oppose his victimization, respectively. From your perspective, any idea when that will occur? By that I mean, is it just a matter of the parties tiring or do you anticipate that those whose view of the matter is contrary to yours ultimately will see the error of their ways and lament, if not retract, their comments?
I’ve said my piece, and it’s abundantly clear that my position was the correct one.
Four comments, directed at our “good friend” from NoVA/NCR “Hussar”:
1. Of the 82 (as of the time of writing) comments here, 18 of them were from you. Yet you decry the fact that this article is high on Google’s search engine with Katz’s name as search string. News for ya, youngster: you’re helping raise the profile by commenting here.
2. While Katz may or may not have had an agenda in writing his article, either he or his editor appears to have one – or are functionally and mathematically illiterate.
Katz’s article documents well over $200 billion in DoD savings identified by the CBO study as being available through DoD policy changes. The headline highlights only one of them vice the overall total. That indicates either an agenda (e.g., here’s what we want to recommend or endorse without explicitly saying so) or a p!ss-poor ability to comprehend written material including numbers.
3. Given 2. above, it’s not clear that your position is the “correct” one. I’d recommend you consider the fact that you are the one in error, and that the piece is designed to advocate, rather subtly, a given course of action vice being an objective bit of journalism.
4. I’d also recommend dropping your smug, condescending attitude. From what I’ve seen, you’re by no means the smartest or most capable individual who comments here. I’d put you no higher than maybe about the 35th percentile – and, frankly, that may be far too generous.
Я сомневаюсь, что данный индивидуум является ветераном. На мой взгляд его чувства слишком легко задеть. Не то чтобы это важно, но было бы хорошо, если бы выражение “Пошел на Хуй” имело перевод получше.
Dave Hardin: Вполне возможно. Кроме того он может быть просто снисходительно хуй кто – неправильно – думает, что он лучше, чем другие.
Я считаю, что соответствующие традиционные российские оскорбление является «ебать вашу мать». (улыбка)
Постарайся не запутывать гения фактами. Я уверен, что он уже все для себя решил. Я предположил, что ты владеешь русским исходя из твоих предыдуших сообшений. Не будь таким строгим с мальчишкой!
Замечательно! Очки хорошо сделано. И, я становлюсь больше знакомы с Google переводчик.
Продолжай тренироваться. Повторение – мать учения. Я вижу, у тебя большой прогресс!
Я думаю, что службы королева Дании Маргрете II пытается претендовать на один из изображение большего размера польской табунов.
Best I can do, Hondo. Not good with Russisch.
Вы бы два просьба прекратить?
Gee, just when were getting to have some fun. Ok comrade back to english.
Ah, that makes sense now. NRC employee. I was trying to figure out why he was getting so pissed and I was trying to figure out his angle. He’s one of those entrenched bureaucrats that pounds his fist on the table for the government to cut the DOD budget and Veterans pay instead of touching his pay and benefits. What a smug asshole.
No, I am not employed by the NRC.Your little intel weenie was dead wrong.
How fucking dumb do you feel now?
I’d recommend reevaluating what you think you know about me.
If you can’t even get those basic facts right, whatever else you posted amounts to horseshit.
I get what you mean, generalizations and assumptions about people often lead to embarrassment. But that is just my contribution to the asshattery that goes on around here. I guess this concludes my ill-informed opinion of bullshit. Semper Fi
Hussar: NCR = National Capital Region. You know, DC plus that part of NoVA and MD surrounding same, extending well outside the Beltway? That’s the general area from which you were commenting during May and June – the NoVA part, to be precise.
Enjoy your current stay in Florida. How was the Atlantic coast the other day?
I am…very much. Working on my tan in West Palm before what is going to be a very, very cold winter OCONUS.
I’ll be back in NOVA in 2 weeks and we will be interviewing for a gear guard. You doing anything over Xmas?
I already have plans, thanks. And I never did much like cold weather anyway.
Or working around self-centered, conceited people who think they know far more than they actually do, for that matter.
Too bad.
Oh well, you know what they say about excuses and assholes……
True statement.
You’ve amply proven the latter about yourself. So what are you using as the former to excuse that fact? It’s obviously not superior intellect, experience, or talent.
I am a total asshole. I make zero bones about that. I’m also humble when situation dictates.
Difference is, when I’m being an asshole, I can actually back it up.
So far here . . . you really haven’t proven much. Frankly, you’ve come across more like a petulant child.
Really.
Continue with your self-delusions of adequacy as you like.
To feel compelled to do that reevaluation of what any of us might think we know about you we would need to feel something along the lines of caring about who you are, might be, or what any of us might think we know about you. I, for one, don’t.
Meanwhile, what you have displayed here is the ability to be a demanding, arrogant prick. Whether that is your usual demeanor I neither know nor care. No need to reevaluate that opinion – it will remain my opinion, which is of no more or less value than you opinion, until you do something to alter my view of you.
That is just a simple fact, Jack
The real problem is that we spend trillions on Social Security.
We need to means-test Social Security (hint: if you use your Social Security check to cover your greens fees at the country club, you probably don’t need it), we need to get rid of the cap on Social Security taxable income, and we need to raise the retirement age to reflect increased longevity.
One thing we do need to do is work on gerontology–not to increase max lifespan, but to make more of one’s life productive.
Incoming! You are picking a fight on one of Hondo’s favorite topics here. I suggest you work on the following responses: 1) So if you are successful and thrifty, you should be penalized by losing all the money SS took from you for all those years 2) If you are going to take the cap off taxable SS income, are you going to similarly take the cap off how much money SS would pay you? (see #1 again) 3) Understand the retirement age of 65 comes from the 19th century – how do you plan to account for the differences in physical health among the 60+ set caused by work, stress, genetics, etc? And of course “make them more productive” – how? Force everything to be made in the US? Develop make-work jobs? How many unemployed do we have now – add how many seniors to that pool?
Just trying to help you be better prepared here….
I wonder what the average number of work years was in the 1920s. Why fix on age? Some folks are fit as a fiddle at 67 and others are ready for CCU at 40. Some folks have worked 30 years before they’re 50 and others not 20 when they are 25. And, sure, whether it’s greens fees or gas for the Winnebago that someone spends their social security check on, its theirs to do with what they want. Or are we to the point now that “To each according to his needs” is our new credo?
If I remember correctly (and Hondo can dig this up), the age for retirement was set at 65 because that was something the unions wanted.
I think it had to do with a plumber at that age and how much he should be expected to lift and carry, but I’m not sure about that part.
DT: actually, my understanding is that 65 was a compromise. Labor initially wanted 60 as the retirement age; those designing the system he originally wanted 70. The result was a Solomonic “split the baby” decision that produced 65 as the “normal” retirement age for Social Security purposes.
David: an individual has no ownership interest whatsoever in Social Security. It is a tax-funded social welfare program that redistributes income from those working to those who are retired or “disabled” and their dependents – nothing more, and nothing less. It always has been.
If Congress wants to means test Social Security, that would be completely lawful. Frankly, I expect to see that in my lifetime – if we don’t see a fiscal collapse of the whole freaking system first.
The problem (for those inclined to protect the current system anyway) with “means testing” Social Security is that doing that would reveal it as a means for transferring income. I mean it already is-from future retirees to current retirees-but the pretense has always been that it’s not “welfare” and that you are getting back what you have paid in (which isn’t really true, but allowing the political class to pretend that it is helps to keep the program popular). The more that the public understands that it’s just another income transfer, the more popular alternatives will become.
68W58: anyone with half a brain has known that Social Security was nothing more than yet another government income redistribution program since 1963, when the SCOTUS decided Fleming v. Nestor.
To put it bluntly: Social Security was “sold” under false pretenses when it was created in 1935. It is nothing more than a tax-funded income transfer program that is funded by a dedicated tax (FICA) vice general revenues. It never has been, and is not today, a retirement savings plan. You own nothing, have no choice as to how much you contribute or whether you participate, and you get what Congress says you get. That’s it.
Hondo, I think there have been several articles in the past 2 or 3 years suggesting means testing, but not removing the taxable income cap.
There are many people who lost or used up their retirement savings just surviving in the last market collapse (2009) and have found themselves dependent on SocSec retirement income when they had not expected to do so.
There is only a slight possibility that removing the taxable income cap could make a difference in keeping SocSec funded. The talk about that is based on the false idea that inflation is low AND will stay that way, as well as the equally false assumption than ‘on paper’ or unrealized net worth is the same as actual cash net worth.
Inflation may be somewhat low now (gas prices dropped, for example), but there are signs of the same risky behaviors occurring in financial markets, that led to the last collapse and there is nothing to say it can’t happen again.
There are undercurrents that say that inflation could shoot sky high in less than a week, if circumstances are right.
CORRECTION: Some folks have worked 30 years before they’re 50 and others not 20 when they are 55.
So, you pay into an account for decades and, when it’s time to make a withdrawl you’re told, “Sorry, your IRS filings indicate that you have exceeded the income level for a social-security payment.” Hey, how about, “I’m sorry but you have a four bedroom, 2 1/2 bath home but only you and your wife live in it. We are requiring you to relocate to a two bedroom, one bath residence.” No? Well, how about “We are sorry but you, according to MVA records, you have three vehicles titled in your name. You are the only licensed driver in your household. You are hereby directed to surrender the vehicle and title within 30 days. you will be appropriately compensated (Note: Such compensation is income and must be included in your tax filing.) Your appeal rights are on page two of this notice.” Shall I continue? Let me know. It’s not hard to imagine where the gov’t will go when it comes to taking what, in the old days, was regarded as private property.
Apples and oranges, 2/17 Air Cav. Social Security is a government benefit program with no individual ownership rights (see Fleming v. Nestor). Congress makes the rules for such programs, so means testing them would be completely legit if unpopular.
The latter cases would be far more problematic. Even with “appropriate compensation”, I suspect the courts would be reluctant to allow those.
Then again, as ObamaCare shows, no amount of stupidity is beyond Congress – or the Courts.
No, I am not employed by the NRC.
Your little intel weenie was dead wrong.
How fucking dumb do you feel now?
I feel twice as dumb as the first time I read your comment. What’s 2 X Zero? I’m really fucking dumb.
Last time I checked, Hussar, “NCR” and “NRC” are not the same.
He’s talking to me Hondo. That was my fuck up. I posted something that was wrong after I read your post. I mixed up NRC instead of NCR. Not your fault. Unlike Hussar I can admit when I’m wrong.
Climb to Glory: I completely understand that, amigo – it was very obvious that your comment was due to an inadvertent misreading of the acronym I used. But I’m not sure our “little friend” here caught that, so I wanted to point it out for him.
For what it’s worth at this point did anyone like our boy Hussar actually read the report presentation from the CBO? Katz read it and chose his story based on selective reporting of the report. It’s an opinion piece because he ignores the last three pages in his link to the CBO report: http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/45443-WEA_Presentation.pdf It’s the presentation of the full report, not the actual report. But since it’s what Katz wants us to review let’s look at page 12 interestingly titled: “Options to Reduce Spending Without Altering Military Pay and Benefits” If Mr. Katz is the supposedly unbiased reporter he claims to be, why not offer some paragraphs as to the benefits of choosing a path that doesn’t fuck the people who actually put life and limb on the line for 20 years from the presentation he put up as a reference link? I understand the savings isn’t 108 billion. But unbiased reporting of a CBO report should include all the components of the report shouldn’t it? Or does cherry picking the parts you prefer to talk about count as integrity in journalism these days? I stand by my statements previously that this is a biased piece of hackery done by a junior reporter who will hopefully learn from this experience and in the future when claiming to offer an article on a government report pay attention to the full reports he used to instead of writing about the first 11 pages of a 14 page presentation condensation of the three full size reports. For those of you interested in the actual reports the presentation is based upon I provide the following links. http://www.cbo.gov/publication/44683 http://www.cbo.gov/budget-options/2013/44687 http://www.cbo.gov/publication/44993 Additionally for the record, I couldn’t pick Jonn Lilyea out of a fucking lineup if my life depended on it, anymore than I could pick out anyone else on this site. I’m no ball sucking sycophant. I’m a veteran with half a fucking brain who can read words and interpret their meaning. Just because Mr. Lilyea wrote this article in no way guarantees I’m offering support. But when I reviewed the article and the… Read more »
VOV, which asswipe are you addressing, Katz or Hussar?
I’ve been up since 3AM and I’m a bit owly right now. Not enough caffeine, otherwise, I wouldn’t ask for clarification on that.
Hussar, but Katz would be okay as well…
Looks like a mouth-breather to me!
Exclusive Video of Hussar at Work:
Early Video of Hussar, note his creative use of line of sight crying and throwing himself to ground:
This is a very funny video!