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2nd Worst City in CA8938 Posts
On November 07 2012 17:56 JonnyBNoHo wrote:Show nested quote +On November 07 2012 17:49 Souma wrote:On November 07 2012 17:43 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On November 07 2012 17:22 calin wrote:On November 07 2012 17:19 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On November 07 2012 17:04 mcmartini wrote: I see a number of Americans on facebook, twitter saying they're coming to Australia while bitching about socialism. Australia has new start (the dole, money to the unemployed), student loans through the government (HECS) and medicare. I am just so confused. The US is pretty comparable to Australia on social programs. So if someone in the US was to fear an encroachment of the state, Australia would be a relative safe haven. Wtf..no it's not. Australia is definitely left of the US when it comes to 'social programs'. Really? Australia has a smaller government than the us (% of GDP) and superannuation is a wet dream for many right-wingers in the US. % of GDP is a bad measure of the size of government. Japan's bureaucracy is less than half the size of the U.S.'s as a % of GDP but their government by all measures is "bigger." U.S. is just terrible at spending money. If you have a better measure, I'm all ears (err, eyes).
Haha, well, I guess it depends on your definition of small/big government. If it's "how much the government spends" then your method would be right. If it's "how much freedom does the government have with regards to enacting social and economic policies" then uh... don't have much choice but to just compare what the governments do/don't do.
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Australia is way left of the US on social programs. We have universal healthcare, doctors and public hospitals are free. We have welfare for students, the unemployed and low income families. Public schools are free. We have a program where governments gives everyone a loan for university which is paid back conditional on income after you graduate. Everyone who works has a superannuation account which part of your income is paid into (forced social security).
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If anyone is really looking to bask in the Nate Silver awesomeness, check out his projected state-by-state margins versus the actual results. The swing states are either dead on or off by under 1% for each candidate. This morning on twitter he called Florida: Obama 49.797% Romney 49.775%. Actual result Obama 49.8% Romney 49.3%
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Pandemona
Charlie Sheens House51449 Posts
On November 07 2012 17:57 419fish wrote:Show nested quote +On November 07 2012 17:46 Pandemona wrote: Wow closer than i thought 0.O
Should of been better odds on this shit! I see you are being sarcastic but it was close, Obama won by about one percent maybe two now I don't know the final numbers. the electoral college can really over inflate the margins of victory.
No, i being serial!!! For the margin he won by, i should have more than £20 profit from a £100 bet I thought was going to be landslide with the odds, it was far from it.
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On November 07 2012 17:49 Souma wrote:Show nested quote +On November 07 2012 17:43 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On November 07 2012 17:22 calin wrote:On November 07 2012 17:19 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On November 07 2012 17:04 mcmartini wrote: I see a number of Americans on facebook, twitter saying they're coming to Australia while bitching about socialism. Australia has new start (the dole, money to the unemployed), student loans through the government (HECS) and medicare. I am just so confused. The US is pretty comparable to Australia on social programs. So if someone in the US was to fear an encroachment of the state, Australia would be a relative safe haven. Wtf..no it's not. Australia is definitely left of the US when it comes to 'social programs'. Really? Australia has a smaller government than the us (% of GDP) and superannuation is a wet dream for many right-wingers in the US. % of GDP is a bad measure of the size of government. Japan's bureaucracy is less than half the size of the U.S.'s as a % of GDP but their government by all measures is "bigger." U.S. is just terrible at spending money.
Yep, Australia has universal health care, a much higher minimum wage, a government funded university fee loans scheme, a government body to arbitrate on industrial disputes, very tough gun control laws, soon to have government funded maternity leave, soon to have government funded disability insurance scheme (when we can agree on who is paying), soon to have government run national broadband service, had government run phone company and airline until the mid 90's, had a government run bank and government set centralised wage fixing until the mid 80's.
We have moved to the right, especially economically, but still have much more government intervention than in the US.
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On November 07 2012 17:57 DannyJ wrote: What the hell happens now that Colorado and Washington have legalized marijuana? Is this going to be some sort of supreme court mess? It depends on whether the federal government wants to make a big deal out of it. As it stands now, and Gonzales v. Reich gives the federal government the right to suppress local marijuana manufacturers because local marijuana could enter interstate commerce. But if the Feds take a hands off approach, chances are that all it means is that state and local cops will stop going after pot smokers and pot sellers and maybe even pot farmers. It will basically be tolerated by the locals and perhaps by the Feds. Or the Feds could double down on being aggressive about it and bust up every farm they see. But because there is only so many FBI/DEA/ATF agents that you can deploy to Washington/Colorado, chances are only people who run big operations would be targeted. If you are some kid growing a plant or two for personal consumption youll be a lot safer.
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On November 07 2012 17:57 DannyJ wrote: What the hell happens now that Colorado and Washington have legalized marijuana? Is this going to be some sort of supreme court mess?
don't think it will be harder to deal with than any other thing that is legal in one state and illegal in another
+ Show Spoiler +
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On November 07 2012 18:03 ControlMonkey wrote:Show nested quote +On November 07 2012 17:49 Souma wrote:On November 07 2012 17:43 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On November 07 2012 17:22 calin wrote:On November 07 2012 17:19 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On November 07 2012 17:04 mcmartini wrote: I see a number of Americans on facebook, twitter saying they're coming to Australia while bitching about socialism. Australia has new start (the dole, money to the unemployed), student loans through the government (HECS) and medicare. I am just so confused. The US is pretty comparable to Australia on social programs. So if someone in the US was to fear an encroachment of the state, Australia would be a relative safe haven. Wtf..no it's not. Australia is definitely left of the US when it comes to 'social programs'. Really? Australia has a smaller government than the us (% of GDP) and superannuation is a wet dream for many right-wingers in the US. % of GDP is a bad measure of the size of government. Japan's bureaucracy is less than half the size of the U.S.'s as a % of GDP but their government by all measures is "bigger." U.S. is just terrible at spending money. Yep, Australia has universal health care, a much higher minimum wage, a government funded university fee loans scheme, a government body to arbitrate on industrial disputes, very tough gun control laws, soon to have government funded maternity leave, soon to have government funded disability insurance scheme (when we can agree on who is paying), soon to have government run national broadband service, had government run phone company and airline until the mid 90's, had a government run bank and government set centralised wage fixing until the mid 80's. We have moved to the right, especially economically, but still have much more government intervention than in the US. Let's not talk about the government run phone company. Privatizing Telstra was the greatest mistake in telecommunications history ever. Giving a terrible company monopoly power over virtually all telecommunications infrastructure in the country, who then gouged ISPs, charged insane prices to customers, and had the worse customer service in the industry was an utter disaster.
Lesson to America, never privatize a government monopoly.
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On November 07 2012 18:03 Pandemona wrote:Show nested quote +On November 07 2012 17:57 419fish wrote:On November 07 2012 17:46 Pandemona wrote: Wow closer than i thought 0.O
Should of been better odds on this shit! I see you are being sarcastic but it was close, Obama won by about one percent maybe two now I don't know the final numbers. the electoral college can really over inflate the margins of victory. No, i being serial!!! For the margin he won by, i should have more than £20 profit from a £100 bet  I thought was going to be landslide with the odds, it was far from it.
The small margins don't mean that Obama wasn't overwhelming likely to win beforehand. That's what all these posts about Silver are referring to. Even with the margins predicted to be as they were Obama was at least a 90% favorite heading into this thing.
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On November 07 2012 17:57 DannyJ wrote: What the hell happens now that Colorado and Washington have legalized marijuana? Is this going to be some sort of supreme court mess? Well, in California state agencies leave medical marijuana users alone but the FBI periodically raids medical marijuana growth spots.
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On November 07 2012 17:20 Talin wrote:Show nested quote +MDRpolitics: Thats why you have one party rule in most third worls and european countries Man that page is brilliant. Sorry to quote you for this, couldn't find original post. Did this guy seriously just say most european countries have one party systems? Was it meant as a joke?
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On November 07 2012 18:02 Signet wrote: If anyone is really looking to bask in the Nate Silver awesomeness, check out his projected state-by-state margins versus the actual results. The swing states are either dead on or off by under 1% for each candidate. This morning on twitter he called Florida: Obama 49.797% Romney 49.775%. Actual result Obama 49.8% Romney 49.3% The only real surprise was that the margin for Ohio was a bit tighter than expected, although the call was correct.
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2nd Worst City in CA8938 Posts
On November 07 2012 18:09 Roflhaxx wrote:Show nested quote +On November 07 2012 17:20 Talin wrote:MDRpolitics: Thats why you have one party rule in most third worls and european countries Man that page is brilliant. Sorry to quote you for this, couldn't find original post. Did this guy seriously just say most european countries have one party systems? Was it meant as a joke?
Maybe he meant they are all socialist. :p
Guys, we just forgot something incredibly important.
Possibly three Supreme Court justices will retire! (more likely two)
Thank God Obama won.
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On November 07 2012 18:08 paralleluniverse wrote:Show nested quote +On November 07 2012 18:03 ControlMonkey wrote:On November 07 2012 17:49 Souma wrote:On November 07 2012 17:43 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On November 07 2012 17:22 calin wrote:On November 07 2012 17:19 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On November 07 2012 17:04 mcmartini wrote: I see a number of Americans on facebook, twitter saying they're coming to Australia while bitching about socialism. Australia has new start (the dole, money to the unemployed), student loans through the government (HECS) and medicare. I am just so confused. The US is pretty comparable to Australia on social programs. So if someone in the US was to fear an encroachment of the state, Australia would be a relative safe haven. Wtf..no it's not. Australia is definitely left of the US when it comes to 'social programs'. Really? Australia has a smaller government than the us (% of GDP) and superannuation is a wet dream for many right-wingers in the US. % of GDP is a bad measure of the size of government. Japan's bureaucracy is less than half the size of the U.S.'s as a % of GDP but their government by all measures is "bigger." U.S. is just terrible at spending money. Yep, Australia has universal health care, a much higher minimum wage, a government funded university fee loans scheme, a government body to arbitrate on industrial disputes, very tough gun control laws, soon to have government funded maternity leave, soon to have government funded disability insurance scheme (when we can agree on who is paying), soon to have government run national broadband service, had government run phone company and airline until the mid 90's, had a government run bank and government set centralised wage fixing until the mid 80's. We have moved to the right, especially economically, but still have much more government intervention than in the US. Let's not talk about the government run phone company. Privatizing Telstra was the greatest mistake in telecommunications history ever. Giving a terrible company monopoly power over virtually all telecommunications infrastructure in the country, who then gouged ISPs, charged insane prices to customers, and had the worse customer service in the industry was an utter disaster. Lesson to America, never privatize a government monopoly.
Yep, they should have done some deal, splitting up the wholesale & retail sections. Maybe kept the wholesale stuff public, selling the retail? But then it would be worth nothing and wouldn't help pay down the debt faster which was the whole point of it, but I digress.
So wooo Obama, I guess we get world peace now right?
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On November 07 2012 17:46 p4NDemik wrote: If you've been following Nate Silver's Presidential and Senate models not much has been surprising, but the remaining senate races may hold the only true surprises outside of House races. At last check Heidi Heitkamp is leading by 3,000 votes in North Dakota with just one precinct remaining. This was a state almost everyone thought was going to go Republican as far as I'm aware - would be a major upset.
As a north dakotan I would definitely say it was an upset, but not totally surprising either. It is pretty much the west half of the state supporting berg and eastern half supporting heitkamp. Western side is more rural and has a shitload of oil and rick berg wants to frack the fuck out of it. The eastern side of the state is more liberal and most people I know think Rick Berg comes off as a scumbag. Also, while North Dakota is a conservative state we have had democratic senators and congressmen for many years until they decided to retire in the last few years.
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On November 07 2012 18:09 frogrubdown wrote:Show nested quote +On November 07 2012 18:03 Pandemona wrote:On November 07 2012 17:57 419fish wrote:On November 07 2012 17:46 Pandemona wrote: Wow closer than i thought 0.O
Should of been better odds on this shit! I see you are being sarcastic but it was close, Obama won by about one percent maybe two now I don't know the final numbers. the electoral college can really over inflate the margins of victory. No, i being serial!!! For the margin he won by, i should have more than £20 profit from a £100 bet  I thought was going to be landslide with the odds, it was far from it. The small margins don't mean that Obama wasn't overwhelming likely to win beforehand. That's what all these posts about Silver are referring to. Even with the margins predicted to be as they were Obama was at least a 90% favorite heading into this thing.
ya that is true I just meant it is closer than the electoral college showed. I'm a republican but I knew the electoral college would be hard to win even if we won the popular vote. even though we did not win either
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to win WITHOUT needed florida and ohia is a strong win for obama
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I think my own dialogue reveals my views. I'm not talking to people and telling them Obama won. I'm telling them Romney lost.
I wanted President Obama to remain in office but not as much as I didn't want Romney as President.
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Well, shucks. Didn't get my choice for president, senator, and most of my ballot initiatives. Don't see the economy growing much at all with Obama at the helm, don't really know how business can weather the coming PPACA storm. Well, the smaller ones particularly.
Next try, 2014. Until then, keep calm and carry on.
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On November 07 2012 18:08 paralleluniverse wrote:Show nested quote +On November 07 2012 18:03 ControlMonkey wrote:On November 07 2012 17:49 Souma wrote:On November 07 2012 17:43 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On November 07 2012 17:22 calin wrote:On November 07 2012 17:19 JonnyBNoHo wrote:On November 07 2012 17:04 mcmartini wrote: I see a number of Americans on facebook, twitter saying they're coming to Australia while bitching about socialism. Australia has new start (the dole, money to the unemployed), student loans through the government (HECS) and medicare. I am just so confused. The US is pretty comparable to Australia on social programs. So if someone in the US was to fear an encroachment of the state, Australia would be a relative safe haven. Wtf..no it's not. Australia is definitely left of the US when it comes to 'social programs'. Really? Australia has a smaller government than the us (% of GDP) and superannuation is a wet dream for many right-wingers in the US. % of GDP is a bad measure of the size of government. Japan's bureaucracy is less than half the size of the U.S.'s as a % of GDP but their government by all measures is "bigger." U.S. is just terrible at spending money. Yep, Australia has universal health care, a much higher minimum wage, a government funded university fee loans scheme, a government body to arbitrate on industrial disputes, very tough gun control laws, soon to have government funded maternity leave, soon to have government funded disability insurance scheme (when we can agree on who is paying), soon to have government run national broadband service, had government run phone company and airline until the mid 90's, had a government run bank and government set centralised wage fixing until the mid 80's. We have moved to the right, especially economically, but still have much more government intervention than in the US. Let's not talk about the government run phone company. Privatizing Telstra was the greatest mistake in telecommunications history ever. Giving a terrible company monopoly power over virtually all telecommunications infrastructure in the country, who then gouged ISPs, charged insane prices to customers, and had the worse customer service in the industry was an utter disaster. Lesson to America, never privatize a government monopoly. I actually find Telstra to be the best in terms of service.... but each to his own also didn't they just Privatise queensland rail?
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