Menchise

Since this thread was originally intended to be one of light fun, I'm going to make future posts in the "Summit of the Americas" thread from now on.

Here are some economic facts that you may find interesting. 1. The Ups and Downs of Competition. Competition does provide lower prices, but it does not improve quality and does not benefit the consumer. Why? Because the only way that companies can afford to decrease prices in order to remain competitive is to decrease the cost of making their products in the first place. Ever wondered why cars are not built to last anymore? It's because the car companies are using cheaper parts that wear out sooner. When a company starts running out of ways to make the parts cheaper, they start decreasing the wages. As a result, any consumer who works for that car company is unable to afford one of the hundreds of cars that he or she helps to assemble per day, making millions of dollars in profit per week for that company. When price goes down, the wage goes down with it. That's hardly beneficial. 2. The Ups and Downs of Free Trade. Free Trade does increase the variety of products in the global market, provides benefits to competitive businesses, and increase opportunities for some poor people to become successful. However, it also increases the extent of poverty for the billions of poor people who are unable to take those opportunities. A basic definition of Free Trade is the importing and exporting of products between economies with minimal Protectionism (tariffs and quotas are the main examples of Trade Protectionism). In other words, a big company on one side of a border can flood the market on the other side of the border with cheaper products without paying taxes. The result is that the more competitive economy screws the less competitive economy, and because the country with the less competitive economy is receiving little or no tax revenue from the imports, it can no longer afford to pay for the social welfare packages required to keep the poor people in their country from: a) Turning to a life of crime to feed themselves, or Starving to death.

Aramike, how can you (among others) say how bad CHINA really is when you are not CHINESE? Here is my answer to your version of that question. The fact that I don't live in the USA means that I don't understand what things are really like inside the country, but it also means that I have a better understanding of what the USA is doing to other nations. My dislike of the USA comes from what it has done outside of its borders. Many other economically powerful countries do the same things, but I prefer to verbally bash the USA because it is the biggest of the bullies. If I wrote all the stuff I knew about how America has screwed other nations to serve their own interests and the interests of their private enterprises, the post would last forever. I have already admitted that I was wrong about the spyplane issue, but that doesn't mean that everything I say is false, and I am offended by your statement that my opinions are of less value simply because: a) I'm not American, I dislike America, and c) I disagree with your opinions.

I'll tell you what I think, even though I'm not a Socialist. You don't have to be one to know that corporations are bad. NAFTA is about the unrestricted "mutual exchange" of resources between the USA, Canada and Mexico. The USA has the industrial clout, Mexico has the workers, Canada has the natural resources (this is a very basic definition, but adequate). This is done to make the member countries more competitive with the other trading blocs, especially ASEAN and the EU. The effect is that economic power is consolidated in the hands of the major corporations, especially the American corporations. Therefore, the people who receive the real benefits from NAFTA are wealthy Americans, while the wealthy Canadians and Mexicans get the breadcrumbs. If NAFTA was expanded to South America, a lot more people who don't have BMWs and private jets will be screwed, while the big suits in the USA, most of which funded President Bush's election campaign, have the biggest party they've ever had. That's what "free trade" is all about.

Jaguar, I'll concede that you have the facts about the spyplane incident, so I'll stop ranting about that, but you need to learn a few facts about Australia. I am an Australian citizen, not a subject of the crown. Australia gained independence from the British Empire in 1901. Technically, Australia is a Constitutional Monarchy, but that is just a formality. The extent of Australian freedom is basically the same as it is in the USA, despite our lack of a Bill of Rights. The only big difference is that Australia has very strict gun laws (that is why we don't have high school massacres). Technically, the Queen of England is the Head of State, but she is just a figurehead. The same applies to the Queen's Australian representative (the Governor-General) who performs ceremonial duties, with his only real power being that he can dismiss the Prime Minister. However, the dismissal of a Prime Minister has only occurred once in our political history, and the one who did it became a proverbial whipping boy for the rest of his life. Australia has its own Prime Minister as the head of the Executive sector of government (just like the American president), the only difference being that the Executive and Legislative powers are not completely separate in practice. Therefore, apart from a few small issues, Australian and American politics work essentially the same way. On another note, I have no problem with Americans as a people, I just don't like America as a nation-state. If you want to read some facts about how bad the USA really is, I'll post a few in the "Summit of the Americas" thread.

The American spindoctors worked overtime on the spyplane issue when they said that it was over international waters. That may have been true, but consider this. The Chinese were not demanding an apology for the invasion of Chinese waters, they demanded an apology for the invasion of Chinese AIRSPACE. Water and airspace boundaries are different because planes travel faster than ships. The Chinese pilot that was killed in the accident was trying to force the spyplane to leave the area without firing on it. Considering that the Chinese military had every right to use lethal force against an intruding military aircraft, that pilot showed commendable restraint. Before you start making jokes about the pilot's fatal error (again), think back to the recent incident in the Middle East where an American F/A-18 Hornet dropped live bombs that completely missed the test site and killed thirty observers. I have no doubt that if a Chinese spyplane was in American airspace, it would have been shot down without hesitation. The fact that President Bush was arrogant enough to downgrade the loss of a Chinese soldier in the line of duty with an insincere 'regret' speech is appalling. I can't wait for him to lose the next election (and he will after his 'patriotic simpleton' persona grows old).

I see that a lot has happened since I last visited the site in August. Well, the GCV TerraGuardian has had a few mottos in the past. The ship was originally called the Grim Reaper, until I decided to make up something new. Terra is Latin for Earth. The new motto of the TerraGuardian is: "The blues and greens of our fair world Will never cease to shine, While the TerraGuardian takes a stand Within the firing line." Commander Menchise GCV TerraGuardian