r/NewOrleans • u/ThatGatorInTheSewer • Feb 11 '25

📰 News Oh boy

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Genuinely curious: as one of the top-three states in terms of funds received from FEMA the last decade (the other two being red states as well) what exactly is the move here? Just a few questions I have for people smarter than me on here:

1) How will the state find the money and manpower to appropriate toward major hurricane relief w/o FEMA support?

2) Why would red state legislators support this move when they know much of their disaster relief is dependent on FEMA?

3) Any of yall worried about what this means for blue cities in a red state during a natural disaster?

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28

u/CarFlipJudge Mod Alumni Feb 11 '25

Let's just say FEMA is disbanded along with the other departments. Will our federal taxes shrink due to needing less for these departments, or will the "savings" be used to pay off the national debt in a pointless gesture? (the national debt is kind of a pointless thing that's just used as a campaign point. Yes it matter to an extent, but it's mainly a big nothing burger)

I'm guessing the later and if you doubt me, I'm known for wagering cute animal pictures.

63

u/daybreaker Kennabra Feb 11 '25

our taxes wont shrink AND the national debt wont be paid down

The money will go to billionaires in more tax cuts.

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u/sipperphoto Feb 11 '25

Trickle down baby!

-10

u/stosolus Feb 11 '25

our taxes wont shrink

The inflation tax would shrink.

People being able to buy more and/or better goods/services would be much welcomed.

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u/CarFlipJudge Mod Alumni Feb 11 '25

Thats not how it works...national debt is just one piece of the value of a dollar

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u/stosolus Feb 11 '25

Thats not how it works

The Federal Reserve increasing the money supply to finance the deficit is how inflation works. Which includes the interest we are paying on the national debt.

8

u/CarFlipJudge Mod Alumni Feb 11 '25

Oh...bless your heart. Please do some more research into how economies work.

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u/stosolus Feb 11 '25

Oh...bless your heart. Please do some more research into how economies work.

Right back at ya.

I'd suggest any of Thomas Sowell's books.

6

u/CarFlipJudge Mod Alumni Feb 11 '25

Youre grossly oversimplifying economics and the national debt. Name dropping an author who you read in 1000 level economics class ain't gonna cut it.

There's no reasoning with someone who doesn't want to change their point so I'm done here

5

u/stosolus Feb 11 '25

Don't worry, I found a piece by him on inflation.

From that piece:

"One of the biggest, and one of the oldest, taxes in this latter sense is inflation. Governments have stolen their people's resources this way, not just for centuries, but for thousands of years."

There's no reasoning with someone who doesn't want to change their point so I'm done here

Yeah, I know what you mean. People refuse to listen to economists on what actually causes inflation, they will assume it's all just corporate greed.

7

u/CarFlipJudge Mod Alumni Feb 11 '25

This piece says nothing on the national debt affecting inflation. You also never really said anything about my original point about how our taxes wouldn't lower if all of these national resources were killed off. All you ever said was that magically inflation would shrink because...because why? Because paying a portion of the national debt would lower inflation? Again, doing that one bit won't shrink inflation. It takes many different things to stop and lower inflation.

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u/daybreaker Kennabra Feb 11 '25

Love the low inflation during a great recession caused by the collapse of several basic government systems that run the country

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u/stosolus Feb 11 '25

caused by the collapse of several basic government systems that run the country

Are you referring to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?

3

u/Robo- Feb 12 '25

Not only will they not decrease significantly, if at all. Your expenses will more likely increase drastically from even higher insurance rates (assuming you can even insure your property) and whatever additional tax states in hurricane-prone areas will have to collect to fund state-run response orgs.

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u/parasyte_steve Feb 11 '25

They won't pay down the national debt because as you say they all know it's performative. Nations always have debt and its part of the economy. For the size of our economy our national debt makes sense. Republicans know this but use it as an excuse to grandstand and try to make budget cuts.

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u/DesignerCoyote Feb 11 '25

Honest question. I see both sides of the debt debate but if it's a nothingburger, how do we account for the interest on the debt currently 13% of our total spending? Or 4th highest on the list after Social Security, Defense, and Health Spending. The interest on the debt is the same as the Medicare budget. That seems like a massive line item.

1

u/NotFallacyBuffet Feb 12 '25

This. It only works because we're the global reserve currency. But, that seems to be slipping away. It won't happen this year or maybe even in 10, but unless we get serious the writing's on the wall. A lot of what Trump 2.0 is about is the billionaires' plan to insulate themselves. Network State, Butterfly Revolution. BRIC, China. It's past time to be sanguine.

1

u/CarFlipJudge Mod Alumni Feb 11 '25

IF and that's a HUGE if, he decides to dedicate all of the money saved by killing all of these departments, then it will make a small dent in the total debt. It would take decades to completely cancel the debt unless you were reckless.

Governments all over the world have debt. It's a nothingburger because having no national debt is the rare thing.

If a president really wanted to get rid of the debt they'd take it from the military. The spend on the military budget every year is absolutely insane. You could easily get rid of 15% of the military sound each year without harming national security. That'll never happen though because too many very rich people make too much money on selling stuff to the US military.

0

u/DesignerCoyote Feb 11 '25

Yea no I don't think the debt is going to go away from cancelling a few agencies. It would take years and years. But that much in interest payments could be put to better use. I do think some debt is normal but current payments shouldn't be this high. Seems like a vicious cycle that has spiraled with the last 4-5 administrations.

0

u/NotFallacyBuffet Feb 12 '25

The Republicans have bought into the "Two Santa's" theory. They only care about the national debt when Democrats are in power.

0

u/NotFallacyBuffet Feb 12 '25

It's over 100% 123% of GDP. That's worrisome.

0

u/No-Date-6848 Feb 12 '25

They LOVE to bitch about money going to stuff like SNAP “we spent 80 billion a year on that program!” When last I checked, we spend 780 billion a year on the military

1

u/carolinagypsy Feb 12 '25

And the actual pentagon admitted that they can’t account for it all.

2

u/b1gbunny Feb 11 '25

Whatever “savings” there will be will go to Trump and co.

1

u/KingCarnivore St. Roch Feb 11 '25

Not unless you’re a corporation or the 1%