Darkling

quote:Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr: SOE bans between 10,000 - 45,000 players. This is nothing new, I had an SOE account last year, became a fairly powerfull player with no cheating duping or anything like that. SOE looks at my account, says hey this guy has millions in credits and bans me, just like that. So I emailed them, begged them to take a look at my account and finally, they gave it back with an apology and a month for free, but it was too late, I was pissed and just cancelled my account. A friend of mine convinced me to take a second look about 4 months ago, so I tried it for one more month, but wasn't impressed, I just couldn't get back into it. Recently SOE invited me to take another look gave me 10 days free, so I looked it over, had an additional 3 Million credits from all the items selling out of my stores (my character was still there), but the lag is just a killer, also was invited to look at the Beta, got into a ship but being used to BCM/UC and EVE onlines MASSIVE space areas, I almost felt like I was in a closet, going out into thier space areas.... Also, the "Stations, which are supposed to be HUGE look to me like they are no bigger than the Large buildings on the planet!?, for a game that was doing the scale so well when it came to the AT-AT's homes, and other things, this is really disapointing.... I don't know about this one... I hope Lucasart is taking it back maybe they can do better with it.

quote:Originally posted by street: ...Why not tell the kid the truth, and admit, the police were trying to do their job,If someone was robbing a 7/11 and the police came by and started negotiating with the guy, gave up and left came back tried talking to him again, only to watch as he killed a few hostages, gave up and left came back only to watch him starve a few people over the next 10 years gave up and left, simply blockaded him in so he couldn't go anywhere.. would you call that "Doing their job"? quote:Originally posted by street: ....and the daddy, jumped the gun and killed innocent members of the family's houshold as well, in FACT more than saddam did.?So I guess all the millions of Kurds, political opponents, religious opponents and so forth really don't count... His sons were even more cold blooded killers than Saddam, but I'm supposed to fell sorry for these sadistic torturers?... Please give me a break! quote:Originally posted by street: Then give the kid an even more proper perspective, that concerning the ATTACk on the houshold PRETENDED as saddams ADMIT you PRETENDED the reason for attacking him AND ADMIT the REASONING WAS FLAWED in the beginning, but now its ok, because of OTHER reasons, not nearly as bad as what was going on in the other houses on the block; when you ATTACKED the house of saddam, with PRETENDED reason, and before, the police could do their job. Truly SICK to present such a distorted view of truth to their 9 year old son. Why LIE to a child, when you know your own action was a blatant mistake? The Guy was EVIL plain and simple, however you don't care and I'll tell you why you don't care. Because none of the millions of people that Saddam killed were Americans or Europeans, so they don't count. You see for all the Hug-A-Bear Europeans, and Pinko Commie Democrats in the U.S. there are 2 Classes of Human Beings. There's Anglo-Saxon Decendants, you know Europeans, Americans, Canadians, Australians and then there's everyone else. The people in the "Every One Else" Category don't matter, they're like Cattle, sure they were being tortured and killed by a sadistic ruler, but no one really cares because they're not "Real" Human Beings, they're Kind of like Animals, someones property, and Saddam was like their Owner, so even though it was pretty creul of Saddam to Gas, Rape, Torture, or otherwise kill these people.. er, UM Animals, since they don't really count, then what's all the fuss about? Only if we can CLEARLY show that some Anglo-Saxons were in Danger, only then we should act, and of course by WE, we mean the UN.

quote:Originally posted by street:

quote:Originally posted by street: heard it all befoe dark, and Mathoo, consider yourself lucky on your warnings, you obviously live in a more relaxed state. But dont imagine for a second, the strictness will never touch your isolated part of the country. The ZERO tolorance mentality is far reaching and has encompassed many states, where the population thought they were free of its domain. There are literally hundreds of thousands of americans, who have lost their voting status to bogus insignificant offences, reclassified as felony crimes. and poor jag, still lost in his arrogant illusion of self importance, may as well play with himself, as I am not playing anymore I'm not arguing with you in that regard, the states have gone WAY too far in many respects, I still won't drive through Luisianna for fear of getting stopped for DWHIANCSHMBADD (Driving While Hispanic In A Nice Car, So He Must Be A Drug Dealer) the laws there actually let the officer confiscate ANY cash you may have in your pocket, keep a certain percentage for themselves, give a percentage to the Judge, the Prosecutor, the Captain, everyone gets a cut of it. I didn't even believe it myself, until I saw a special on 20/20 about it. I usaully carry a few hundred in cash since you never know what might happen, and this state actually let's them take it from you and keep part of it.. That's an invitation to make shit up.

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the worldÔÇÖs greatest civilizations has been 200 years. Great nations rise and fall. The people go from bondage to spiritual truth, to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back again to bondage." Quote is of unknown origin but attributed to: ALEXANDER FRASER TYTLER, LORD WOODHOUSELEE. Unverified

quote:Originally posted by street:

quote:Originally posted by street:

quote:Originally posted by Jaguar: The federal government has 2 main constitutional duties, the defense of the country, and foreign affairs. That's it. It was NEVER authorized by the constitution to play Robin Hood with ANYONE, including corporations, or the poor, or the old, or anyone.Actually it has 3 main constitutional duties, add to that interstate crimes, hence the FBI. Personally I think that the government should mandate that the states each pay a certain amount per person for the defense of this country to the Federal Government (let's say around 1600.00 per person, that would generate the 400 Billion we spend on defense now) and from there the states could figure out the best way to raise the revenue, be it by higher Sales, Income, Property, whatever, it's up to the states. The Feds would get rid of the IRS and had over Social Security to individuals in some sort of Trust Fund. The states would then be in charge of all the social service programs along with the ways to raise the money to pay for them. In addition, the states should push as much as they can to the local governments, the cities and county's. This way the politician's in charge of the spending would be our next door neighbors, people right down the street. It's a proven fact that the closer the politicians are to the constituents, the more thrifty they are with thier money. Case in Point: Education Most states spend around 15 to 20% of Education budgets on administrative overhead, while around 45% of Federal expenditures get eaten up by administrative overhead - Almost Half! And that is only ONE example.

quote:Originally posted by Grizzle: Thanks Nomad, for saving me the trouble of pointing that out. One could define a criminal as anyone breaking the law, but the law breaks crimes down into further categories such as felonies and misdemeanors. Generally speaking a person is stripped of their right to vote if they are a convicted felon (murder, theft, drug trafficking etc...), since felonies are considered the worst of crimes. DUI is not a felony, but it is a "crime". In the state of Florida, a DUI OR Driving with a suspended license can be procecuted as a felony and if it's a 3rd offense (or combination of), let's say 1 DUI and 2 DWSL, MUST be prosecuted as a Felony and there is NO time limit, they could be 10 years apart.

quote:Originally posted by Kalshion: I hate to say this, but I agree with Lost here There is NO way a criminal should be given the right to Vote If they commit a crime, then there right's should be REVOKED. That INCLUD'S there citizenship and if they get back out into the public they should WORK to get that all back We have criminal's now-a-days that get sent to jail, then get out and commit a crime, go back get out, commit another crime We can thank our justice system for those. And Lawyers My take If a lawyers bails a guy out, and he commit's another crime. Then not only should THAT lawyer be prosecuted, but so should the judge as well for ALLOWING the guy to go free after looking at all the evidence While I feel that this is true of Thugs, Violent Criminals and Con Artists, the truth of the matter is that these days you can have your rights revoked for something like Driving on a suspended license. A few years back, my brother got his drivers license suspended because he was laid off and wasn't able to pay his child support for about 3 months. Finally he got a job, started paying, but it was too late, they had suspended his drivers license, and in Florida, there isn't exactly a reasonable public transportation system so pretty much if you can't drive you can't work. So he's driving to get to work to pay off the arrears, he asks the judge to help him out with a temporary license so he can go to work, they told him he has to wait a mandatory 3 months! In the end he got busted, went to jail for a month and it took him 5 years to get his rights returned to him and about the same amount of time to get the whole mess staightned out. A problem that started because he was laid off due to a company closing!?! The problem with the current system is that it is all too easy to become a criminal. Maybe if the judicial system spent more time in prosecuting the "REAL" criminals, and putting them behind bars we wouldn't have the revolving door of justice that we have today.

quote:Originally posted by nomad: Kalshion: Just for the record. Despite living in Spain, I am not spaniard. Now, the former spanish government of Prime Minister Aznar (right to center-right, the Popular Party) decided to support Bush and later on send troops against the will of 80% of the spanish citizens for generic european misagreements that we already discussed in other threads. The Socialist Party (PSOE) based its campaign on the withdrawal of these troops. After having won the elections, the PSOE hardly did have a choice. Having said that, it is also obvious that the withdrawal of spanish troops was seen as a success by the terrorists, despite the fact that this withdrawal was promessed long before the bombing of Madrid's train station occurred. Now see if Spain was like the U.S., after the Bombing, you would have said, "You know what, we WERE going to pull out, but now that you've MESSED with us, you're all going to die. You then would have pulled out all the stops and steam rolled them. But alas, you are not like the U.S., you guys took your beating, and with tail clenched firmly between your legs you scampered off like an injured dog. Sorry if this offends, but I call it like I see it.

Well at least your in Weston, I'm in Coconut Creek and a lot closer to it than you SC

A quick comment about joblessness in the U.S. I've lived in Florida, NY, Ohio, RI & Massachusetts. Except for the 70's I've never seen a sitation where someone wasn't able to get a Job. I know of a lawyer who's unemployed, but that's only because the companies he's applied for are only offering him 80K a year, which he considers an insult, since his last job payed him 120K a year. Usually in the U.S., you can ALWAYS find work. It may not be your dream job, and it may pay less than your last, but you can ALWAYS find a job. I'm always hiring myself, and I can tell you that it's VERY difficult in the U.S. to find a good employee who is not already employed. For those who supposedly can't find a job, there's unemployment which lasts about 6 months Max, "Surprisingly" 98% of the people who are on it for the full term "Find" a job just as their benefits run out. The Truth is that if the U.S. mandated that all items sold in the U.S. must originate from the U.S., our inflation would hit the Roof (remember the 70's with Carter's 50-75% Import Fees), not only because it would allow local manufactures to raise prices, but also because it would be IMPOSSIBLE to fill all those jobs. Currently, the worlds top 50 exporters, export 6.4 Trillion dollars in Merchandise, if you take out the U.S. share of 700 Billion, it works out to 5.7 Trillion that the rest of the world exports. Well out of that we purchase aproximately 1.2 Trillion or 21% of ALL THE WORLDS exports! Since a lot of this comes from Asia, if you consider what they make over there, you're looking at about 46 Million Jobs, or 16% of the U.S. Population. We only have 5% unemployment, and out of that statistically 3% are simply between jobs and will find another within 2 months. (People quit their jobs all the time, when I used to work at Home Depot, I would have to rehire employees for the Plumbing Departent an average of every 3 months). So what do we have 2% of REAL unemployment? Half our population is children, 10% are elderly, that leaves 2% of 126000000 working age Americans out of jobs or 2,520,000. So who would fill these 46 Million Jobs? Even if we paid them at an average American salary of $38,000.00 a year, that's still works out to 7,894,736 jobs. Again, way over our unemployment figures (assuming 1/4 of the product cost is labor). Well I guess if we did that, we'd have to let even more poeple immigrate here to fill the positions. [ 08-29-2004, 11:51 PM: Message edited by: Darkling ]

Oh and one last thing about Germany, Germany was the one that Built most of Saddam's Bunkers at a cost of Billions to Saddam. While they were busy taking his Cash, they complained that the U.S. was causing poverty in Iraq with the Trade embargo. They could have said to Saddam, hey why don't you spend these Billions on the dying Iraqi children, but of course, they were too busy counting the Billions they were making. What was it that you said about the U.S.? Hmm, Oh yes "money at all costs" that's what it was.

Yes you are correct, ALL the EU Countries combined APPROACH total U.S. output, but hey, as you said, Europeans have been around for a LONG time, they should be way ahead of us, not catching up to us. As for Germany, are you sure you want to make that comparison? According to the World Fact Book per capita GDP in Germany is $27,600.00 VS in the U.S. it's $37,800.00, I don't know about you, but I'd rather my country be generating more revenue, than worry so much about where we are getting it from, sure the U.S. doesn't Export as much as it imports, but part of that is that we generate SO MUCH MORE income than other countries that we can buy more than anyone else can. Now, as for Child poverty (% defined as the share of the children living in the households with income below 50% of the national median): The Median houshold income in the U.S. is $53,100 for 2003, so half of that is $26,550. As reported by the Federal Statistical Office (of Germany), the average net income of households in Germany amounted to EUR 32,100 for 2002, but since their Economy Contracted by about 1% it might be less now and in Current exchange Rates (not sure what they were in 2002) your looking at aprox $38000, so half of that is $19000. One thing I don't understand though is how Germany can have a budget of less than Half the U.S. budget (800 Billion vs 1.9 Trillion) When their tax rates are higher than they are in the U.S. so something about the World Fact Book is screwey. My whole point about the "Poverty as defined by" thing is that's not REAL poverty, that's like saying that my Employees are poor because they make 25% of my income, I assure you that they ARE NOT poor, they make more than the national average, but you can't define someone as poor just simply becuase they make less than you, you define someone as poor if they have no disposable income, or worse if they can't afford basics. One last thing, when I was 17 I was hit by a car, I had no health insurance and, Guess what, they didn't leave me on the road to die. Our increadibly expensive health care system, took care of all the surgury's, even the cosmetic ones so my face didn't look like hamburger, and they took care of the therapy I would need for the next 2 years. Yes when all was said and done they handed me a bill for over $150,000.00. I sat down with them and explained that I couldn't afford to pay it, the PIP insurance on the guys car that hit me only covered $10,000.00. So what happened, did they throw me in jail? NO, they settled for 6 cents on the dollar and wrote the rest off, I STILL got the healthcare that I needed. Considering the fact that Europe has very few Trauma centers, I'm VERY lucky that I wasn't there when this happened to me because I would most likely have died.

Even though the U.S. spends Billions on Defense, it still only amounts to around 4% of GDP, about the same as what the UK spends. The difference is that the US has an economy that is many times greater than that of European country's. Also remember that in the U.S., someone is considered "Poor" if they make less than 18K a year. (though it may be more since the last time I checked was a couple of years ago). In most country's you're poor if you can't afford to buy basics; Food, Clothing, Housing. In the U.S. you're poor if you can't afford premium Cable. Problem is, you guys think you can afford to have 12% of your population unemployed and living off the government, but you can't Eventually something's got to give. Everyone talks about our "massive" deficits here in the U.S., but again, it's only about 5% of GDP, in many EU countries it's 15, 20 even 40% of GDP, so one way or another, it won't last. You don't have as many immigrants as the U.S. does to help soften the blow of the Elderly living longer, so you guys will get hit many times harder than we will, soon as your aging population combines with the number of unemployed, your socialistic system will collapse, just as the Soviets did. Sorry.

quote:Originally posted by nomad: A similar tax exists already in the EU since long ago. Look at: http://www.eurunion.org/legislat/VATweb.htm Not at all a fair comparison, 1st of all, the VAT tax, taxes everything at all levels of production, whenever you add value, such as taking raw Iron and making it into a car, you pay a tax on that. Second IN ADDITION to charging the VAT tax, they ALSO charge an income tax. The net effect is that Europe has an average tax rate of well over 50% and in some countries it hits 70%!!! It's no wonder Europe has an unemployment rate that is double ours, the employers over there have to give almost everything they make to the EU, leaving them with no spare cash to hire more employees.

quote:Originally posted by Kalshion: Actually, my opinion, I'm both for and against it For it - Because it'll make EVERYONE pay taxes (including the rich) and will put most lawyers out of a job, it'll also make it so that people won't ahve to file income tax reports Againt it - Because everything will go up in price There are always advantage's and disadvantage's to these thigns.. a lot of time's you just have to sacrifice something for the greater good My greater good is that I won't have to file income tax reports, or rather my father won't. I see him up all night sometime's getting stuff together I may work right now, but i don't have to file these thing's until I get a place of my own, and quite frankly I don't have the money for that (house's here cost an arm and a leg, and sometime's a head to,but that's natural since it IS Nevada) So, for honestly, i'm both for and against it. When more information is released then I'll be able to make a better decision, cause right now it's scant information, can't exactly make an absolute decision since most of the fact's are still being hidden My company currently spends aproximatly 1/3 of our profits on Taxes so the truth is that if I didn't have to pay all this money in taxes I could afford to lower prices, so if I lower my prices by about 10% plus you are getting about 15% more in income, then who cares that the Government is charging 11% sales taxes? Or even 20% if they decided to also include Social Security and Medicare in there (which would mean an additional 19% reduction in what we currently pay in taxes - 9.5 percent from me (as emmployer) and 9.5% from you (as employee). So let's recap, If social Security & Medicare is included, I as an employer would save aproximately 42% off my profits, since profits are aproximatly 25% of revenue, this would mean that I would be able to lop 10% off my price and still make more money. You would end up bringing home 25% more Cash, so if I had to pay 20% off the top, and I eat half of that you would see a 10% rise in prices, so your net gain would be 15%. Let me say that again. You would have 15% MORE cash than what you started off with. Even if I kept my prices the same, you would still end up with 5% more.

quote:Originally posted by Kartoffel: National sales tax = totally idiotic. It would hit the poor HARD, as they spend a much greater percentage of their income on necessities like groceries, then the middle or upper classes. 10% of $50 is a lot more, when you've only got $15,000, compared to $50,000. Most of the proposals that I've seen would exempt Groceries from any tax. However Rest Easy, there is no way that we would ever have a National Sales tax and I'll tell you why. The current system allows for a lot of Manipulation, Huge companies like IBM, GE, GM, Ford and many other multi-billion dollare companies pay BILLIONS in taxes, many of them have special pages written especially for them that gives them a percentage off here and there that amounts to millions of dollars. Of course, congress doesn't give this kind of special treatment for free, they charge them anywhere from 10 to 25 cents on the dollare for these special pages in the tax code that they recieve back from the companies in the forms of political contributions, perks and special privelages. This is one of the reasons why every year 70 to 80% of the people who are in power get re-elected, no one can afford to run against these congressman with their multi-million dollar re-election warchests. The current tax code is the seat of congressional and political power and the last time I checked there aren't too many people in power willing to give up that power. It would truly take an act of God for something like this to actually make it to becoming a law. P.S. one of the things you guys seem to forget is that Savings would no longer be taxed at all under this type of system, Japan has shown us that a country with a high rate of savings can become an economic powerhouse in a very short period of time. Imagine this country with a significantly higher savings rate, our interest rates would be GUARANTEED to stay low, keeping econimic growth at extremely high rates without rekindling inflation.

Well if that would happen 1st of all it would create a MASSIVE job boom as more and more global corporations move to make the U.S. their headquarters, plus the ensuing surge in spending would also create tons of jobs, so any negative effects of the poor paying the same as the wealthy would be negated by the positive effects of more jobs. Think about it, most poeple spend all the money they have and if they had an extra $400.00 a month, they would probably buy a new car, house, boat, whatever.

quote:Originally posted by Takvah: LIS... fear clouds judgment, end of story. The costs of this war and the blunders of this administration are tantamount to enabling terrorism. I find that highly convenient. I will post a link later listing the costs of this war to this country in terms of the monetary, the human lives lost,Statistically speaking, the troops are safer over there than they are here. We have over there what, 150,000 troops? In the US 1.68% of them would have died in a car accident (that's 2520 of them) and another 8250 would have died of a homicide, but I guess in your world, it's better for someone to die of a cold blooded murder here in the good ol' US than in a noble attempt to make the world safer for the rest of us. As for the Military expenditures, We saw some SERIOUS cutbacks in 99 that cut our expendatures down to about 3.2% of GDP, whereas right now we're spending closer to 3.6% of GDP, but again, in your world, we are not justified in spending an extra half percent to protect ourselves and bring the fight to THEIR soil, instead of sitting here and waiting for them to come for us. quote:Originally posted by Takvah: Darkling... when you can spell hospital gimme a call. Hospital, now give me your number so I can call you. quote:Originally posted by Takvah: I didn't compare us to the WORLD, I compared us to a FUGITIVE ON DIALYSIS that is CAVE HOPPING and yet we cannot catch him. The rest of your comments I can only say we seem to agree on. I didn't say that the world LOVED us prior to this invasion... but hell even EUROPE hates our guts. I wouldn't give a damn about the French but it is far worse than that, far more reaching than the snobbery of an archaic state of cowards that fear the intrusions of ENGLISH and AMERICANA into their culture. There is distrust and frankly I have the same distrust for this government that I VOTED FOR and helped to put into office (especially being that I am in Florida).You remind me of my ex-wife "What will the neighbors think" Who gives a S***! We need to do what is good for us, becuase I've got news for you. We live BETTER than the Europeans, the Asians, the South Americans, the Canadians the Muslims the Africans and EVERY SINGLE continent, country, state, tribe or group in between. Just as when I was growing up everyone hated a certain family in town, because they were rich, while the rest of us struggled, it's the same thing here. We consume over half the worlds resources, products and manufactured goods. We live in bigger homes and cars (plus more cars). We have more highways, parks, roads, HOSPITALS, police and everything in between. Yet we do all of this with Lower taxes, (Yes we have the lowest taxes in the industrialized world!) Lower military spending vs GDP, Lower Deficits vs GDP and lower Government spending vs GDP than anyone else. Because of all this they despise us and they will continue to despise us because, just like you are jealous of the Millionaire next door, the rest of the world is jealous of their Trillionaire next door. Look at 20 years ago when Japan was buying buldings left and right, people hated them, yet Japan has an economy that at the time was 1/10 our size and now it's closer to 1/20th our size, because we've continued to grow while the rest of the world has lagged. We need to do what's best for OUR interest and forget what the rest of the world has to say, they want us to help them out of their issues, but at the same time, tell us what to do, it's crazy.

quote:Originally posted by Takvah: LIS... fear clouds judgment, end of story. The costs of this war and the blunders of this administration are tantamount to enabling terrorism. I find that highly convenient. I will post a link later listing the costs of this war to this country in terms of the monetary, the human lives lost,Statistically speaking, the troops are safer over there than they are here. We have over there what, 150,000 troops? In the US 1.68% of them would have died in a car accident (that's 2520 of them) and another 8250 would have died of a homicide, but I guess in your world, it's better for someone to die of a cold blooded murder here in the good ol' US than in a noble attempt to make the world safer for the rest of us. As for the Military expenditures, We saw some SERIOUS cutbacks in 99 that cut our expendatures down to about 3.2% of GDP, whereas right now we're spending closer to 3.6% of GDP, but again, in your world, we are not justified in spending an extra half percent to protect ourselves and bring the fight to THEIR soil, instead of sitting here and waiting for them to come for us. quote:Originally posted by Takvah: Darkling... when you can spell hospital gimme a call. Hospital, now give me your number so I can call you. quote:Originally posted by Takvah: I didn't compare us to the WORLD, I compared us to a FUGITIVE ON DIALYSIS that is CAVE HOPPING and yet we cannot catch him. The rest of your comments I can only say we seem to agree on. I didn't say that the world LOVED us prior to this invasion... but hell even EUROPE hates our guts. I wouldn't give a damn about the French but it is far worse than that, far more reaching than the snobbery of an archaic state of cowards that fear the intrusions of ENGLISH and AMERICANA into their culture. There is distrust and frankly I have the same distrust for this government that I VOTED FOR and helped to put into office (especially being that I am in Florida).You remind me of my ex-wife "What will the neighbors think" Who gives a S***! We need to do what is good for us, becuase I've got news for you. We live BETTER than the Europeans, the Asians, the South Americans, the Canadians the Muslims the Africans and EVERY SINGLE continent, country, state, tribe or group in between. Just as when I was growing up everyone hated a certain family in town, because they were rich, while the rest of us struggled, it's the same thing here. We consume over half the worlds resources, products and manufactured goods. We live in bigger homes and cars (plus more cars). We have more highways, parks, roads, HOSPITALS, police and everything in between. Yet we do all of this with Lower taxes, (Yes we have the lowest taxes in the industrialized world!) Lower military spending vs GDP, Lower Deficits vs GDP and lower Government spending vs GDP than anyone else. Because of all this they despise us and they will continue to despise us because, just like you are jealous of the Millionaire next door, the rest of the world is jealous of their Trillionaire next door. Look at 20 years ago when Japan was buying buldings left and right, people hated them, yet Japan has an economy that at the time was 1/10 our size and now it's closer to 1/20th our size, because we've continued to grow while the rest of the world has lagged. We need to do what's best for OUR interest and forget what the rest of the world has to say, they want us to help them out of their issues, but at the same time, tell us what to do, it's crazy.

This reminds me of the Reagan days when almost every point of Reagans policies were scrutinized as "Evil". Let's see what were those points again. 1. Reagan lowers trade barriers: Pundits - You see Reagan only wants big business to make money, he wants all the jobs to go to Japan and Taiwan. Reality - Lowering trade barriers made American company's more competitive in the world plus forced them to STOP raising prices (remember inflation was 12% in those days). 2. Reagan administration increases interest rates: Pundits - Reagan wants the unemployment rate to go even higher, it's already at 11%, he just wants his rich buddy's to get more money in their savings accounts. Reality - The combination of raising interest rates and lowering trade barriers effectively put a halt to inflation to the point where the U.S. today has the most stable monetary system in the world. 3. Reagan lowers taxes on the rich, introduces "Supply side" economics. Pundits - "Vodoo Economics" is more like it, he really loves his rich friends and hates the working class! Reality - When was the last time a poor man gave you a job? The Carter years of "tax the rich guy at 75%" was idiotic and short sighted, how can your boss give you a raise or provide more jobs if the government's taken all his money? Only a Moron would believe otherwise. Reagan's policy of lowering taxes, helped to create the biggest job boom since WWII. 4. Reagan eliminates Carter's "Oil Import Control Program" Pundits - Reagan just wants the oil company's to make a windfall, that bastard. Reality - There NEVER really was an oil shortage! Opec ANNOUNCED that they were cutting production, but never did, Carter's control program is what CAUSED the shortage that had lines during the 70's and caused gas prices to go from 40cents a gallon to 1.25 a gallon, over a 3 fold increase. Only a few months after Reagan eliminated that program Gas prices began a downward spiral that would lead to them cutting in half over the next 2 years! What's the point of all of this? Easy, Just as with Reagan, all Democrats and some Republicans look at what is said in the media and assume, Oh, this guy must be Evil, he has the worst intentions in mind. However years later Reagan was hailed as one of the Greatest presidents of our time and I believe history will have the same story to tell of President Bush.

This reminds me of the Reagan days when almost every point of Reagans policies were scrutinized as "Evil". Let's see what were those points again. 1. Reagan lowers trade barriers: Pundits - You see Reagan only wants big business to make money, he wants all the jobs to go to Japan and Taiwan. Reality - Lowering trade barriers made American company's more competitive in the world plus forced them to STOP raising prices (remember inflation was 12% in those days). 2. Reagan administration increases interest rates: Pundits - Reagan wants the unemployment rate to go even higher, it's already at 11%, he just wants his rich buddy's to get more money in their savings accounts. Reality - The combination of raising interest rates and lowering trade barriers effectively put a halt to inflation to the point where the U.S. today has the most stable monetary system in the world. 3. Reagan lowers taxes on the rich, introduces "Supply side" economics. Pundits - "Vodoo Economics" is more like it, he really loves his rich friends and hates the working class! Reality - When was the last time a poor man gave you a job? The Carter years of "tax the rich guy at 75%" was idiotic and short sighted, how can your boss give you a raise or provide more jobs if the government's taken all his money? Only a Moron would believe otherwise. Reagan's policy of lowering taxes, helped to create the biggest job boom since WWII. 4. Reagan eliminates Carter's "Oil Import Control Program" Pundits - Reagan just wants the oil company's to make a windfall, that bastard. Reality - There NEVER really was an oil shortage! Opec ANNOUNCED that they were cutting production, but never did, Carter's control program is what CAUSED the shortage that had lines during the 70's and caused gas prices to go from 40cents a gallon to 1.25 a gallon, over a 3 fold increase. Only a few months after Reagan eliminated that program Gas prices began a downward spiral that would lead to them cutting in half over the next 2 years! What's the point of all of this? Easy, Just as with Reagan, all Democrats and some Republicans look at what is said in the media and assume, Oh, this guy must be Evil, he has the worst intentions in mind. However years later Reagan was hailed as one of the Greatest presidents of our time and I believe history will have the same story to tell of President Bush.

quote:Originally posted by Takvah: You do understand Jaguar that in everything you said there is not one fact. This is the same line of fear that has been spewed since 9/11. I think that any President would be capable of defending this nation against terror. I think that ANY President with the resources of this nation, its people and our WILL could repell ANY threat and would.Oh you mean like how Clinton REFUSED to take Bin Laden into custody because he didn't want to derail the Peace process with Israel & the Palestinians? He was more concerned with leaving his Mark in history, than bringing a known terrorist to justice. Yes, ANY president indeed. quote:Originally posted by Takvah: You act like there is some divinity that has a hand over Bush making him more capable than anyone to defend this nation. Wrong. If anything he has ignited the hatred that is harbored not just in the Middle East but GLOBALLY against this nation. Oh yes, you're completely right, Before Bush everyone LOVED the U.S., and now they All Hate us!! Please WAKE UP, The entire world has hated us since the 70's, why? Because we have the BEST economy, the Lowest unemployment, the most disposable income, the most of EVERYTHING and everyone is Jealous of us. quote:Originally posted by Takvah: A guy in a cave has better health care than the average American You OBVIOUSLY have never been to any other country, or at least a hospitol in another country. Let's see: 1a. In the U.S. if you need a bypass, they schedule you for Outpatient Surgury and get it done the same day. 1b. In Canada you go on a waiting list and suffer for approximately 3-6 Months depending on your age (the older the longer) and they literally hope you die before it's your turn to get the procedure done. 2a. In the U.S. if you get hit by a car, you go to a Trauma center to get stabalized. 2b. In the rest of the world, most countries don't even HAVE trauma centers! 3a. In the U.S. if you have AIDS, and no insurance, you qualify for assistance with medication to the point to where your life is DRAMATICALLY extended. 3b. In Africa, you simply die. 4a. In the U.S. If healthcare cost rise, hospitols increase their fees because it's legal to do so. 4b. In England, if healthcare costs rise, hospitols simply shut down and REFUSE to take more patients because it's legal to do so. 5a. In the U.S. you can get healthcare even if you can't afford it because you're unemployed (or other reasons). 5b. In South America, if you're unemployed, You're screwed. (which between 20-40% are "Officially" Unemployed. 6a. In Columbia, They divert money from the Military, Police and National Security to pay for National Healthcare. That's good because since there's practically no LAW ENFORCEMENT, Smugglers, Drug dealers, Militants and the Lawless, run with impunity putting plenty in the hospitols. 6b. In the U.S. we feel safe.