fishnmagician Posted July 29, 2010 Report Share Posted July 29, 2010 I have to disagree. We are an empire of mass mindless consumption. We are an empire of debt and money printing. We are an empire of corporate statism the likes of which would make Stalin blush. the US is not an empire. and Stalin would NOT approve of our interactions of Government and Business, Hitler would. Eggy 10-13 LAA 7-14 50-50 2-15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Posted July 29, 2010 Report Share Posted July 29, 2010 Wonder if Hitler would have bought GM? “My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own purpose.” Ayn Rand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zybathegeek Posted July 29, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2010 Wonder if Hitler would have bought GM? Not when he had Volkswagen, the "peoples car" Adolf Hitler declared his intentions for a state-sponsored "Volkswagen" program. Hitler required a basic vehicle capable of transporting two adults and three children at 100 km/h (62 mph). The "People's Car" would be available to citizens of the Third Reich through a savings scheme at 990 Reichsmark, about the price of a small motorcycle (an average income being around 32RM a week).[4] Politicians and diapers should be changed often and regularly, invariably for the same reason. ______________________________________________________________ "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time." Attributed to Abraham Lincoln. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epanzella Posted July 29, 2010 Report Share Posted July 29, 2010 Is there some particlar way we can blame Bush that will solve our problems now? It seems that all the left does is blame Bush over and over, frontwards and backwards, to the exclusion of everything else in general, and running the country in particular. Is there some underlying theory that says when they hit upon the EXACT way to blame Bush that they've been searching for, that the runaway spending will stop, the healthcare plan will work, the oil spill will be instantly cleaned up, runaway illegal immigration will cease, the economy will come out of the dumper, and small businesses will start hiring again? This guy should be a judge on American Idol and leave governing to someone who can do it. As I type this, the communist-in-chief is behind me on the TV talking and talking and talking, STILL blaming Bush. Ed Panzella "BAITS MOTEL" - 2450 Maycraft Pilothouse Higganum, Ct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishnmagician Posted July 29, 2010 Report Share Posted July 29, 2010 so when someone posts an article discussing events since 2001 we should just act as if Bush and the GOP weren't running the show? When the article is highlighting the fear of China dumping our notes, I should forget the right wingers who gave me Econ 101 lessons as to why they would never do this? look, I'm happy you guys are finally waking up and admitting the errors made during the Bush years, now just step up and denounce them as Republican errors and stop the "bipartisan every one is to blame" nonsense. Eggy 10-13 LAA 7-14 50-50 2-15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gseries69 Posted July 29, 2010 Report Share Posted July 29, 2010 ^ The US is not an empire in the traditional sense IMO. Our military and corporations are all over the world but we do not have direct governance over other areas like previous empires had. Therefore we will not collapse in the traditional sense. What will collapse is our social programs. Our debt problems are due to our entitlement programs including medicare part D which was passed under Bush, so yes he gets some blame but by and far Democratic entitlement programs from the past 70+ years are what are hurting us now. BTW, both repubs and dems were working on the same medicare legislation and the Dems bill would have cost nearly 3 times as much as Bush's plan. Those entitlement programs are coming home to roost as the demographics of the country change. To talk about deficit reduction without reforming entitelment programs is a waste of time. Instead of dealing with past entitlement programs, we passed another massive one. These will all fail under their own debt. People who save might be OK, people who don't are going to be in a world of hurt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishnmagician Posted July 29, 2010 Report Share Posted July 29, 2010 our military spending is pretty high too, I don't think it's fair to focus on entitlements alone. while we aren't an empire, we spend on our military as if we were. Eggy 10-13 LAA 7-14 50-50 2-15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted July 29, 2010 Report Share Posted July 29, 2010 our military spending is pretty high too, I don't think it's fair to focus on entitlements alone. while we aren't an empire, we spend on our military as if we were. We're a different kind of empire. We dominate other countries financially with our purchasing power (until recently...) The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SallyGrowler Posted July 29, 2010 Report Share Posted July 29, 2010 We're a different kind of empire. We dominate other countries financially with our purchasing power (until recently...) You mean, we're being dominated by other countries because of their purchasing power. 1 EUR = 1.308 USD 1 GBP = 1.559 USD China and Japan are the largest holders of US Treasuries. Foreign Drug Cartels cost the US Economy $215 Billion per year. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-0...rug-habit.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gseries69 Posted July 29, 2010 Report Share Posted July 29, 2010 our military spending is pretty high too, I don't think it's fair to focus on entitlements alone. while we aren't an empire, we spend on our military as if we were. Our military spending has been around 4% of GDP for quite a few years. Even during the Reagan buildup it topped out a 6%. Compare that to around 9% of GDP through out the 60's. Also, we have a professional military. Our soldiers receive a salary and salaries in the US are in general higher than other nations. As a % of GDP we are actually 8th in world when it comes to military spending. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zybathegeek Posted July 29, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2010 You mean, we're being dominated by other countries because of their purchasing power. 1 EUR = 1.308 USD 1 GBP = 1.559 USD China and Japan are the largest holders of US Treasuries. As suggested in the article could one of the reasons for the current loath to lend by banks here be because there is no more ready money to borrow from a reluctant China and others. <<Quietly, discreetly, the Chinese are reducing their exposure to US Treasury bonds. Perhaps they have noticed what the rest of the world's investors pretend not to see - that the US is on an unsustainable fiscal course, with no apparent political means of self-correcting.>> Politicians and diapers should be changed often and regularly, invariably for the same reason. ______________________________________________________________ "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time." Attributed to Abraham Lincoln. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dude Posted July 29, 2010 Report Share Posted July 29, 2010 Our military spending has been around 4% of GDP for quite a few years. Even during the Reagan buildup it topped out a 6%. Compare that to around 9% of GDP through out the 60's. Also, we have a professional military. Our soldiers receive a salary and salaries in the US are in general higher than other nations. As a % of GDP we are actually 8th in world when it comes to military spending. Where are you getting these figures? As my memory serves, military spending is about 8-9% of GDP currently and about 27% of current government spending. We spend as much on our military as the rest of the industrialized world combined despite having no threats to our homeland security other than terrorism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Posted July 29, 2010 Report Share Posted July 29, 2010 I for one would love to see the military get slashed. “My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own purpose.” Ayn Rand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zybathegeek Posted July 29, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2010 I for one would love to see the military get slashed. Not slashed but redeployed on civil projects rebuilding crumbling infrastructure here in the US. They could have lots of war games on the border to keep their fighting readiness. Politicians and diapers should be changed often and regularly, invariably for the same reason. ______________________________________________________________ "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time." Attributed to Abraham Lincoln. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishnmagician Posted July 29, 2010 Report Share Posted July 29, 2010 Not slashed but redeployed on civil projects rebuilding crumbling infrastructure here in the US. we don't need the armed forces building bridges and paving roads. Eggy 10-13 LAA 7-14 50-50 2-15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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