GoofNewf7h ago
Randahl Fink

A lot can happen in 57 years.

In 1969 the corrupt President Nixon was president, the U.S. could not afford universal healthcare but did find the money to go to the moon while waging a war in Vietnam.

In 2026 the corrupt President Trump is president, the U.S. still cannot afford universal healthcare but does find the money to go to the moon while waging a war in Iran.

7:44amIvory for iOS
Show threadLeeloo15h ago
@randahl
So, the president is still president?
Show threadJoão Santos15h ago
@randahl In 2026 the US spends an higher percentage of the government budget in healthcare expenses than almost every single European country. If the US had universal healthcare, there would be _more_ money for bombs (or secondary things, like, say, housing), but the some plutocrats would need to forego their 5th yacht.
Show threadgoedelchen14h ago

@jmcs @randahl ... and in expenditure per capita ...

https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/2025/11/health-at-a-glance-2025_a894f72e/full-report/health-expenditure-per-capita_affe6b0a.html#indicator-d1e31918-d294e8ff6a

Show threadJoão Santos14h ago
@goedelchen @randahl that was given with private healthcare. But the public health spending in the US being ~15% of the GDP vs ~5% to ~10% in most EU countries, is completely bonkers. For that level of spending, not only should healthcare be free for patients, but hospitals should feel like 5 stars hotels.
Show threadohir11h ago

@jmcs @goedelchen @randahl
> public health spending in the US

That's an oxymoron in the land of the free. "Public" in US means taxpayer money spent on healthcare owners commission.

The Europe has it all upside down. Actively preventing willing hospital and clinic owners from becoming billionaires.

https://nurse.org/news/healthcare-billionaires-us/

Top 7 Healthcare Billionaires in The U.S. - And How They Impact Your Nursing Career

Discover the top billionaires shaping the US healthcare industry, from hospital moguls to medical device giants. Learn who they are, how they built their wealth, and how their influence impacts nurses and patient care.

Nurse.org
Show threadBrokar15h ago

@randahl Same sh*t, different flies...

Difference is that it smells much worse nowadays..

Show threadTaubeaufdemdach 14h ago
@Brokar @randahl Flies these days are fatter
Show threadlbcp 🦖 15h ago

@randahl Well, Artemis II is actually an Apollo 8 style mission, when Johnson was president.

Mr. Smartypants, over and out.

Show threadJoão Costa 💚🇵🇹🇪🇺🇬🇧🇺🇦15h ago

@randahl

Not much has changed in this domain, has it..?

Show threadSneezy14h ago

@randahl

And the hundreds of billions given to Israel.

Show threadFinchHaven sfba14h ago

@randahl

Oh!

Look!

A US political "Influencer"

From…

…Denmark, is it?

mhmm…

Edgy haircut, though…

cc @tdp_org

Show threadMelissa Dancey14h ago
@randahl nothing has changed.. you forgot to add while increasing their family wealth.
Show threadAnders Puck Nielsen13h ago
@randahl In fairness, Nixon actually did wind down the Apollo programs, because he couldn't afford both the Vietnam war and the moon landings. So there has been progress, in that now they can maybe afford both. :-) Universal healthcare is still a long way off, though.
Show threadLeander Lindahl 🇪🇺13h ago
@anderspuck @randahl isn't the affording part rather about them no longer having any concern about their deficit? It increased from 2 to 3 trillion or something only the last fiscal year. (I have too look up the actual numbers, but it was a fantasy sized increase of an already astronomical figure that no longer has a relationship to the real world – a trillion more or less doesn't matter seems to be the attitude)
Show threadRandahl Fink12h ago

@anderspuck good point.

Although the national debt has risen by a factor of over 100 since Nixon, so the affordability is questionable.

Show threadchristian mock11h ago

@randahl @anderspuck Have you ever managed to run a casino into bankruptcy? If not, you're obviously not qualified to judge financial matters.

/s

Show threadmobidic13h ago

@randahl
Nixon: “Well, I’m not a crook.” 
... while 60% popular vote in 1972 and 47 million voted for a pardoned criminal, which where 47% of reg. voters, rep. 73% of the population.

Trump: “I did nothing wrong.”
... while 49% popular vote in 2024 and 77 million voted for a convicted criminal, which where 32% of reg. voters, rep. 68% of the population.

So, in both cases ONLY 22% of the US population voted for a criminal.

Problem: more than 56% of the US public is silent and complicit!

Show threadxs4me212h ago

@randahl

Well it could be a first if we send Trump to the moon?

Show threadFrans Veldman ⁱ ᵃᵐ ᵃⁿᵗⁱᶠᵃ🚩12h ago
Too close.
Show threadConny Nasch12h ago
@xs4me2 @randahl not to return...
Show threadxs4me29h ago
@connynasch @randahl we can tell him that later…
Show threadLazy B0y12h ago

@randahl

moon?

i thought they wanna go mars?!

better as it brings them further away…
just let them go there with their team of
very reasonable and stable geniuses

Show threadkasperd12h ago
Is it really because they cannot afford universal healthcare? Or is it because they want to maintain the current system in order to protect some established businesses?
Show threadThe Animal and the Machine12h ago

@randahl
The US ‘can’t find the money’ for universal healthcare because it would help Black people.

The racist philosophy is ‘do harm first’, so the fact it would also help white people is irrelevant.

Show threadMassimiliano Siddi12h ago
@randahl In my opinion, one major difference is that Nixon was intellectually brilliant while Trump is a narcissistic impostor and shameless liar. Nixon wasn’t corrupt in the sense that he took bribes. He was morally corrupt by overstepping legal boundaries (Watergate). Trump is made of other stuff. He made taking bribes a business model. He has the moral compass of a NY mobster. Laws, institutions and rules are meaningless to him.
Show threadGrumble 🇺🇸 🇺🇦 🇬🇱11h ago

@realbloginista @randahl Nixon was a poor kid from a Quaker family. Trump was a nepo-baby of a famous racist.

Hard to tell, but it's reasonable to suspect Nixon was a prude. Trump bought sex (even a wife), was besties with a pedophile and trafficker, and likely abused children.

Nixon was eligible for military deferments, but joined the Navy anyway and served through WW2 in the South Pacific. Trump was not eligible for deferments, but bought false medical documents so he could avoid Vietnam.

That Nixon would turn out to be so amoral and fascistic was vaguely unexpected. That Trump would turn out so amoral and fascistic was fucking obvious.

Show threadTruth Or Consequences ✅ 🇺🇦10h ago

@grumble209 @realbloginista @randahl

And here we are, a country where over half of the voters are either too amoral, fascist, racist or or too stupid to realize the obvious.

Show threadMassimiliano Siddi9h ago
@Savvyhomestead @grumble209 @randahl My hopes are still that the more reasonable people of the US will change that.
Show threadGrumble 🇺🇸 🇺🇦 🇬🇱2h ago
@realbloginista @Savvyhomestead @randahl I hope you're right, but I fear that it will take unreasonable people to unfuck this situation.
Show threadWm.son8h ago

@realbloginista @randahl

Trump's backers and handlers are very different from Nixon's as well.

Show threadCrystal_Fish_Caves11h ago
@randahl I just saw the same cat go by twice. We're in that error loop matrix thingy.
Show threadHarryK11h ago
@randahl What do you expect of a 250 years old country developed by criminals and refugees who can't live by the law of their nations of birth.😉
Show threadsnailinjection11h ago
@randahl with a tiny difference - Trump already survived a couple of watergates
Show threadSoftspeak11h ago

@randahl

My friend, Space Travel is cheaper than War and produces data and helps with development.
War creates attrition (which is cleaner way of saying human death, property damage, damage to land and infrastructure).
Why in this day and age do nations toss a blank check on warfare but place on NASA and universities on a strict budget is beyond me.

No, AI investments are not contributing to science, before crypto-bros ask.

Show threadJimmy11h ago
@randahl And they told me when I was growing up that A WEEK was a long time in politics!!!
Show threadProficiency10h ago
@randahl I'm pretty sure NASA budget is like miniscule compared to them funding US murder complex.
Show threadDanish Akhtar10h ago
@randahl This is called Cycle of Stupidity. 🤪 😊
Show threadMidgePhoto10h ago

@randahl The USA could afford universal healthcare, a model like ours is cheaper, and a lot cheaper than the American lash-up.

But the USA doesn't want universal healthcare for a collection of reasons, none good.

Show threadCount Holdem10h ago

@randahl You left out billions in crypto for his family.

Wait... is the moon the next crypto superpower?

Show threadXenotime, Librarian of Æther 10h ago
@randahl going to the moon was (and is) not the problem
Show threadDadbod AntiFa9h ago
@randahl Nixon was a prince compared to the current guy. He was politically dirty and a war criminal, but at least he didn’t run the country into ruin or operate the Presidency for personal enrichment. Arguably the last liberal President. How things have changed.
Show threadNo Exceptions8h ago

@randahl Set all the horrors aside, if possible, and consider that Nixon was a dead drunk who could read serious technical material.

Trump, in contrast, is a teetotaler who can't read shit.

Another thing is that Trump commits 20 Watergates before he belches up last night's happy meal(s).

(The Watergate was kind of a nothing. What Nixon did to Ellsberg was far worse.)

Show threadPlausible Human Being5h ago
@randahl Sadly, Richard Nixon had a health care plan that he submitted in 1971. I have the impression that it would have been better than what existed at the time and what we are stuck with now. He couldn't get the support needed to get it implemented. I have read that Edward Kennedy opposed it because he thought he could get a better plan. He was wrong.