EPTNo. Wrong. At least a fascist government is easier to overthrow.
2008 US Presidential Election - Page 14
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UmmTheHobo
United States650 Posts
No. Wrong. At least a fascist government is easier to overthrow. | ||
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a-game
Canada5214 Posts
pretty sure mccain is just sitting on it until the time is right | ||
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KOFgokuon
United States14912 Posts
On August 24 2008 05:01 Cobalt wrote: fuck yes! Maybe now people will finally learn that Delaware is a state! (I'm a DE resident) Anyway, now that Obama-Biden is out in the open, someone's already gotten a hold of it and done the inevitable "Vote O(b/s)ama / Bi(n-la)den" thing. It was actually pretty funny. Anyway, I really do wonder who McCain will pick as his running mate now. Obama picked one that wouldn't really make a huge splash in the world of politics (what I mean is, imagine if Obama had picked Clinton or someone), so what will McCain do? Since he's relying a lot on leadership, experience, and patriotism, it'll have to be someone who can complement those traits. EDIT: beaten by something that makes me look dumb  finally someone else from delaware | ||
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zobz
Canada2175 Posts
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Servolisk
United States5241 Posts
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Servolisk
United States5241 Posts
I still occasionally hear stuff about Hillary supporters not going for Obama but I have no idea if it is a significant amount. It's funny and scary that they could be so dumb. I'm glad Obama did not compromise any principles to appease them by picking Hillary, though. | ||
Jibba
United States22883 Posts
Holy fuck Biden's office turned down my internship application, but I still think this man deserves a video dump. | ||
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fusionsdf
Canada15390 Posts
I cracked up so hard when I first saw that in the debate | ||
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fusionsdf
Canada15390 Posts
cnn just showed the 7 kitchen tables comment pretty kickass speech by biden, makes sense why obama picked him now | ||
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41117 Posts
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fight_or_flight
United States3988 Posts
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HeadBangaa
United States6512 Posts
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shmay
United States1091 Posts
On August 23 2008 07:26 Jibba wrote: This was this year's Human Development Report rankings. # Iceland # Norway # Australia # Canada # Ireland # Sweden # Switzerland # Japan # Netherlands # France # Finland # United States Our life expectancy is a bit lower than most of those countries by a few years, but that can be due to a number of issues. Our net primary school enrollment rate is significantly lower than most modern countries (low 90%s), our poverty index is fairly high, our health expenditure per capita is almost double some of those other countries, we all know about how our public schools fare in comparison to others. Being #13 is still quite good and we have to spend more money on military than any other country, but the biggest places we're lagging behind are in health care and education, which are certainly fixable issues and those countries that are performing the best have moved away from privatization. Interestingly enough, our CO2 emissions per capita is high and should be improved, but not substantially higher than Canada, Australia or Norway. Oh, and our prison populations per capita are high as are homicide rates. I wouldn't pay much attention to the indexes since I just saw Japan ranks higher than us in their gender index, but the %s and rates are worth nothing. All of those countries are just about as capitalistic as we are. Some slightly more. Most slightly less. But we're all extremely similar in that regard. See the Economic Freedom Index here (we're all atop that list as well). Not to mention Norway famously got rich from oil. It's ironic that Socialist Canada and Capitalist America are equally capitalist at this point. I know that Iceland, which tops the list, implemented the flat tax in 2007, and lowered their corporate income tax rate to 18% (ours is 40%) in 2001 (and raised its revenue!). Obviously this doesn't imply causation, but it's something interesting to note, as I think it's myopic to attribute their success mainly to their health and education systems (And I'll admit I don't know the exact cause of their success -- but it's safe to say a good dose of economic freedom is necessary). As for health care, yes they do spend less than us. But at the same time, all of those countries depend on America's competitive health system for medical innovation -- pretty much all medical advancements come from America. A socialization of the US industry would have horrible consequences in that respect alone (source: http://reason.tv/video/show/508.html). I'm not a proponent of the current health care system, I just don't advocate socialization. Lower the price and you increase demand. When demand rises above supply, we must ration, creating wait lines -- something socialized medicine is notorious for. Canadian's have had to come to America when they need urgent treatment. Similarly, many of Britain's doctors are from Third World countries with lower medical standards. An able doctor is less likely to stay in the system if he is treated the same as a less able one, leading to a declining quality of doctors (source: http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=3664). It's also interesting to note our medical spending prior to government involvement in health care: 3% of GDP (source: http://www.hoover.org/publications/digest/3459466.html). That blows all of the socialistic systems out of the water. It was also a time when there was a great move toward non-profit hospitals. According to Ron Paul, "It is easy to forget that for decades we had a health care system that was the envy of the world." Our current system is highly regulated and has all sorts of mandates that distort the market -- and look at the results. Take an industry that has little regulation -- computers. You can buy a decent computer for like 400 bucks these days, and they continue to get better year after year. This is why capitalism is good for the poor. I think if you do same thing with the rest of the industries, it will lead to similar results. If you want an example of socialized education, look no further than our k-12 education system, which as you said yourself, blows. It's basically a glorified daycare center. Our higher education is better (I still think it sucks though). We do have some of the best colleges in the world. And it is a pretty competitive market. If one school sucks, someone can choose another. But it's still very regulated, and it sucks in many ways -- but is more subsidies the solution? | ||
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milly9
Canada325 Posts
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Jibba
United States22883 Posts
On August 24 2008 20:27 shmay wrote: Economic Freedom Index is more about measuring freedom than economics. Every modern country in the world is capitalist and every modern country in the world is socialist. BA is right that there is no direct correlation between quality of life and these things because we all know things can be misdirected and it's about 100000000000x easier to produce a stable economic/education/health care system in a small homogenous population than it is in the US. But, we can look at areas within our own country and see where government spending have benefited us. Medical innovation is actually a good example of this, because the government spends a lot of money subsidizing pharmaceutical companies and hospitals. All of those countries are just about as capitalistic as we are. Some slightly more. Most slightly less. But we're all extremely similar in that regard. See the Economic Freedom Index here (we're all atop that list as well). Not to mention Norway famously got rich from oil. I don't believe pretty much all medical advances come from the US but even taking that line of thought, where do they come from? Universities. Even private ones like John Hopkins get plenty of government grants, but many public universities have some of the finest medical programs in the world as well. Our best hospitals are likely as good as you can possibly find on Earth, but the problem is our lower level city hospitals are falling behind. Wait lines are already extraordinary in many hospitals (even ones like UofM) because people delay seeing their doctors until the last possible moment, which is probably driven by both the fear of seeing a doctor and maybe inability to pay for it. Lines and times should be managed at the hospital level, and industrial engineers are starting to focus most of their attention on the problem. Similarly, many of Britain's doctors are from Third World countries with lower medical standards. An able doctor is less likely to stay in the system if he is treated the same as a less able one, leading to a declining quality of doctors (source: http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=3664). Take an industry that has little regulation -- computers. You can buy a decent computer for like 400 bucks these days, and they continue to get better year after year. This is why capitalism is good for the poor. I think if you do same thing with the rest of the industries, it will lead to similar results. but is more subsidies the solution? There's a huge number of issues with the way our schools are run and throwing money at the problem obviously won't fix it. The terrible administration of our schools at the local/state/federal level is one of the issues, but so is a dwindling amount of teachers and it's not just a public school issue. It applies to private school teachers as well. | ||
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Frits
11782 Posts
On August 24 2008 20:51 milly9 wrote: anybady think zerg suck lol i like protoss Only if the zerg is McCain and the protoss Obama. | ||
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41117 Posts
Also I like how Biden makes his attack on McCain: He went after McCain, a longtime personal friend, as having given "into the right wing of his party and yielded to the very Swift Boat politics he once so deplored." Nice. | ||
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Wysp
Canada2299 Posts
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NovaTheFeared
United States7232 Posts
McCain has 2 things going for him that closes the gap. First, because he agreed to accept public financing he gets 84M to spend after he accepts the nomination. Second, the Republican National Committee is vastly out fundraising the Democratic National Committee and they can and will spend money on McCain's behalf. Ultimately he will be outspent by Obama but it won't be lopsided like 2-1 or anything like that. Link | ||
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Telemako
Spain1637 Posts
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