First, you're off topic. Still. Just like the last guy who got up-modded for the same idiotic statement, which I tried politely to sidestep by pointing out the far bigger and relevant problem. But if people are going to keep up-modding you damn trolls... fine.
Trolling is the act of posting obviously inflammatory statements on a message board, solely to garner reactions from unsuspecting readers. I asked a simple question, to which you went off on a paragraphs-long tirade about the shortcomings you perceive of me that included questions about my intellectual capacity, my "privilege", and my "goddamned sense of self-entitlement". You don't know anything about me. You are being as prejudicial as I'm sure you think I am, whether you realize it or not.
You're the one that needs a "citation needed" -- where do you people come up with this stupid shit about minority preferences? The federal law bans such practices, and has ever since Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964.
Then why didn't you just say that in your first retort to the original poster? No need to attack me. Nevermind that I know for a fact that at the very least, certain localities/municipalities do, indeed, have policies that require a certain percentage of business to go to minority-owned businesses. See the City of Chicago and the State of Wisconsin for examples. Perhaps it doesn't exist at the federal level, I'll look into it, and if it doesn't then that's wonderful. But I'm sure I'm some kind of a racist bigot to you if I solely believe that every contract should be awarded to the enterprise that will deliver the best bang for the public buck. I would say the same thing about hiring practices. Hire the most qualified and competent person you can for every position, in every sector, public and private, and be really, truly, blind to race.
Is this "extremely" wasteful in the same way that Obamacare is the "worst thing that has ever happened to this country"? This kind of hyperbole tells me you watch Fox News too much, and your brains have gone missing.
I don't watch any TV news networks. They are all way too sensationalist and partisan for me. I try to actually read through pieces of legislation and make an honest effort to understand what the real ramifications are of laws before I make a decision on whether or not to support them. As for Obamacare, I really don't want to get into all of that here, but if the web portal dedicated to it has already cost over half a billion dollars, is six times over it's initial budget, and doesn't even function...not really sure how anyone without political motivations can call (at least this portion of it) that a good thing?
Look, .1% isn't extremely wasteful. And you can't exactly calculate what this mythical "preference for minorities" would cost anyway, since the cost is essentially separating two piles of paper.. .1% is probably a massive over-estimation. It's probably more like .00000000027%. AGAIN!
How can you, in one sentence, tell me that it can't be calculated, and in the next throw out another number you've picked cleanly out of thin air to minimize it even further?
This assumes this mythical "minority preference" (a) exists and (b) was even. fucking. relevant.
You people screaming about this "minority preference" thing is tantamount to the Surgeon General looking at the top causes of death, and then deciding to go on a crusade against bottled water, ignoring all the deaths from smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, etc. It's intellectually dishonest, shows a remarkable lack of understanding over what the government actually costs... and why... and frankly, the only way you could be this wrong about the proportions and general understanding of the problem is if you actively tried to! You aren't just ignorant, you're being intentionally misleading, probably because you were mislead by somebody else, and being loathe to admit it, have now subscribed to their lies. Which, coincidentally, is what caused the Dark Ages.
Now come off it man, really. Nobody gives a flying fark through a rolling doughnut about your whack-job ideas about how this mythical "minority preference" is ruining America when we can see clearly that there's at least a hundred more significant things causing cost overruns.
I simply asked why we aren't picking the "best man/woman for the job", so to speak. If it doesn't exist, and I've been misled, then fine. You can say that in a respectful and friendly manner without pre-judging me, belittling me, and attacking me.
And if punching you in the face this hard hasn't gotten your attention, well then, I end with this: Although illegal and non-existant, should your mythical minority preference thing ever become a reality, it would serve you right for your goddamned sense of self-entitlement. Maybe being a trash man or working fast food for a few months would earn you some goddamned respect and perspective about how America really is.
Again, you don't know a damned thing about me, my life, my income, who I am, where I've been, or what obstacles I've overcome to get where I am today and what obstacles I face in the future. Not one damned thing. Maybe that's why 0.1% waste bothers me, regardless of why, because I know what it feels like to need that extra dollar a week. Yet I'm the one who is "punched in the face" for my sense of privilege and self-entitlement. Whatever I really do have, I'll say this, at least I have class. Enough class, at least, not to personally attack random people on message boards because I disagree with their position or because they're wrong about something. That must count for something. But I suppose it serves me right. Somehow, however it is that I managed, with one simple question, to earn your wrath, retribution, and hostility.