Simple, he despises the idea of ANY real cuts in government spending PERIOD He needs to rationalize this to himself whenever presented with the facts.
Something is responsible for that five pound deficit to his projections. Did he take up running, for example? Will he be adding mileage?
What does it matter, said he was going to lose weight, but instead gained weight, and then he claimed that was victory , because he only put on 10 pounds, because he didnt gain as much weight as he had initially thought. The guy said he was going to lose weight and he is claiming it as a victory when he put on 10 pounds. Would you recommend this diet to a friend who was trying to lose weight?
What they do is pad the budget, then cut it. Presto. They're heros. Just like deadlines. I tell my boss 2 weeks when I can do it in 1. When it comes in early, I look like a hero. It's all bullshit bro.
Bureaucrats are notorious for this kind of scam, if by some act of God they manage to come in light on what they budgeted to spend, then they just take the money and blow it, just so they can get the same budget, or a bigger one the next time. Look at a guy like Ron Paul who is able to return 100k per year on the amount the government alots to him in order to run his office..... How often do you hear of bureaucrats/politicians simply returning unspent money?
You have some kind of snapshot view of reality here, instead of a process view. If I told my friend last month he could still load his plate as he has always done, but now cut the carbs, and after a month he gained only 10, where he used to gain 15, then it is entirely plausible that cutting carbs did it. So, if he keeps cutting, next month it could be a gain of 5, then a "gain" of zero, and then in the month after those, a loss of weight. That's why I said the analogy was lacking, it didn't account for some variable that is important and perhaps even key to being able to call this a diet.
Yea, exactly. Spend it or lose it. Then demand more, next year. Even if you don't need it. It's all a big fucking game.
Well thats fine and dandy, except history has shown us that the government budgets to gain 15 pounds, then gains ten, and claims it as a victory, then next time around they budget to put on 20 pounds, and gain 15, then the next time they budget to gain 25 and put on 20..... then one day the government wakes up and realizes it has been successfully dieting(in their own eyes) for the last 30 goddamn years, and yet somehow they are morbidly obese, and they act aloof when asked how they got there. Welcome to America 2012.
Continuing the analogy, you have to consider that the body is gaining height as well as weight, so using BMI would be a better measure. If you look at debt as a percent of GDP, at worst it appears we may be guilty of yo-yo dieting.
You're right, he does a good job of explaining things to the average guy, good point. We may not agree on politics all the time, but if we do get past the simple part, meaning 'right or left' hate Obama, hate Bush, whatever, then we, and I mean the collective 'we' you, me and other thinking people on ET P&r, can really have good conversations. Like another post, having a beer together, chatting about stuff, I don't think we would ever get to the point of throwing furniture, or throwing insults. There is one of those talk shows, can't recall which one, which says 'exchange ideas, not insults' - oh well, I know I'll hear another 'kumbaya boy' or similar, but what the hell, I like hearing from both sides without all the b.s. c