[kenafein]

OF course there is that "economic stimulus" behind feeding the war machine..and hiring people......

Give that money to NASA and Research Universities, the benefits to mankind would be incalculable.

[GeneV]

The MOST inefficient organization ($ wise) in the world is probably the US military but most could care less and their "trust fund" is constantly replenished.............

OF course there is that "economic stimulus" behind feeding the war machine..and hiring people......

And, to a great extent, government exists to perform functions which "efficient" private, profit-making enterprises won't do. It may be more "efficient" for a society just to let all the poor, inefficient population die. We've had several experiments with extremely "efficient" forms of government. It didn't work out that well.

And, as far as efficiency goes, being first in expenditure by a wide margin and 37th in results is not a definition of efficiency. Whatever anecdotes one can find of what happened to cousin George in what country, the differences in results even for things that we do well, such as cancer outcomes, is relatively small compared to the doubling in amounts spent per capita. The double spent per capital is especially ridiculous when one considers the number of capita which are not paying or covered at all.

Whatever nasty stories one comes up with about the UK, people live longer there than in the U.S. and fewer babies die. The list goes on from there.

[mikemike]

The MOST inefficient organization ($ wise) in the world is probably the US military but most could care less and their "trust fund" is constantly replenished.............

OF course there is that "economic stimulus" behind feeding the war machine..and hiring people......

Not to defend wasteful spending on our overbuilt military, but they do have to operate in very harsh conditions, operate in a redundant matter, and often make decisions with regard to human life which they rightly make without concern for cost. All of these things add up to them being extremely inefficient on a cost basis but effective at executing their mission.

Other public institutions could focus on costs like the library that I drove by last night which was the only place for blocks with lights because they have a generator which kicks on automatically but was still closed due to the storm. Why does a library need this type of system which probably added tens of thousands of dollars to their construction cost?

[jeffkrol]

Not to defend wasteful spending on our overbuilt military, but they do have to operate in very harsh conditions, operate in a redundant matter, and often make decisions with regard to human life which they rightly make without concern for cost. All of these things add up to them being extremely inefficient on a cost basis but effective at executing their mission.

Other public institutions could focus on costs like the library that I drove by last night which was the only place for blocks with lights because they have a generator which kicks on automatically but was still closed due to the storm. Why does a library need this type of system which probably added tens of thousands of dollars to their construction cost?

I believe Bush got criticized for substandard flak jackets..........

[grhazelton]

Not to defend wasteful spending on our overbuilt military, but they do have to operate in very harsh conditions, operate in a redundant matter, and often make decisions with regard to human life which they rightly make without concern for cost. All of these things add up to them being extremely inefficient on a cost basis but effective at executing their mission.

Other public institutions could focus on costs like the library that I drove by last night which was the only place for blocks with lights because they have a generator which kicks on automatically but was still closed due to the storm. Why does a library need this type of system which probably added tens of thousands of dollars to their construction cost?

Maybe for sump pumps?

Even small libraries will have hundreds of thousands invested of dollars in books and other media alone, in addition to computers, etc. As a retired librarian I can attest that a brief power failure can "crash" automated catalog/circulation systems and public access computer terminals, costing much staff time and patron frustration to bring things back up.

On the broader issue of cost cutting re: libraries. With the federal tax on inventories most publishers are unwilling to carry items on their books beyond the initial surge of interest. Printings tend to be smaller. If scarcity of funds prohibits purchase of worthy items they may never be available again. Continuity in a library's collection development, especially in non-fiction, is important, and being unable to buy an item today may mean that it will be virtually unobtainable in the future.

Historically libraries and librarians have been experts in making a dollar out of 98 cents, but there are limits. As in education, the effects of short-sighted funding cuts may not be immediately obvious, but they will show up in the future. We shouldn't eat our seed corn.

[kswier]

Give that money to NASA and Research Universities, the benefits to mankind would be incalculable.

I would be all for that. Better to have science and technology than bombs in my opinion.

[normhead]

NO reform is at all possible until Republican control of the house and Senate are eliminated. The Executive is only one branch of the government. It is just pure mis-information to blame the current economic woes on Obama when every piece of legislation he proposes is gutted by the Republicans. There will be no progress in the US until Republicans are reduced to a minority, possibly even replaced by a more responsible party with conservative values. There is simply stated no bottom to Republican debauchery. They will go as low as they have to go to win. There is amount of lying or deceit that they won't sink to in an effort to control the American people for the benefit of the rich. Lying is permissible, slander is permissible, making up facts is permissible. Blaming others for things they have done is permissible.

If you think they have hit rock bottom yet you are wrong. In the coming elections, you are about to witness the lowest campaign ever run. It will leave Americans wondering about the viability of democracy, and Americans will face the unrestrained assault of deceit, misrepresentation and distortion of the facts. It will be justified by those who are so bigoted they believe anything they do or say against Obama is fair game because the end justifies the means. I see them posting on this forum already. You know who you are.

[Medium FormatPro]

these things add up to them being extremely inefficient on a cost basis but effective at executing their mission

So lets see. The united states has items like the; one billion dollar per copy Seawolf class subs, B2 stealth bombers costing how much per copy, and also F35 jet fighters that are highly unreliable. Yet take all three of those combines or by themselves... How much could one country use hardware such as this against enemies in Iraq and Afganistan.

Yet troops not getting proper care while on duty or after duty at places such as the veterans administration.

Nothing quite like a country that has about fifty percent of it's budget going towards the military; and for what?

[mikemike]

Maybe for sump pumps?

Even small libraries will have hundreds of thousands invested of dollars in books and other media alone, in addition to computers, etc. As a retired librarian I can attest that a brief power failure can "crash" automated catalog/circulation systems and public access computer terminals, costing much staff time and patron frustration to bring things back up.

On the broader issue of cost cutting re: libraries. With the federal tax on inventories most publishers are unwilling to carry items on their books beyond the initial surge of interest. Printings tend to be smaller. If scarcity of funds prohibits purchase of worthy items they may never be available again. Continuity in a library's collection development, especially in non-fiction, is important, and being unable to buy an item today may mean that it will be virtually unobtainable in the future.

Historically libraries and librarians have been experts in making a dollar out of 98 cents, but there are limits. As in education, the effects of short-sighted funding cuts may not be immediately obvious, but they will show up in the future. We shouldn't eat our seed corn.

I am not trying to diminish the importance of libraries, but that generator seems like a "nice-to-have" that was used to eat up their full construction budget but which might have been better returned to state/local/FEMA if only to install that generator somewhere more important in an emergency like the fire station across the street from it which was dark. And the damn library isn't even open until Monday even though it would be nice if they would open their doors to their neighbors without power.

[lesmore49]

Sigh, called my Grandmother last night and she said "I'm listening to Ann Romney, let me turn it down."

I make it a practice of listening to ALL candidates. I don't make a decision until I've heard what all of them have to say. Maybe that's waht your Grandma does.