Global Democratic Revolution

[Diff-chan]

hahaha Tracer, no, it gets tabled and the financial crisis continues to loom large. Im not saying that's not happening here (Social Security) but in Europe its positiviely (sic) on the breaking point. It will simply be impossible for a country to pay benefits to increasing numbers of retired people... especially when the numbers of young tax-paying citizens is going down. That's just the way it is.

[Almaci]

Gohron, do a search on the CNN site, nothing, cant remember anything either and ive been pretty much on top of things before, during and after the war.
You sure youre imagination isnt playing tricks on you or youre taking Fox claims as gospel truth as stone here did so aptly during the war by shouting HUGE CHEMICAL WEAPONS FACTORY found like every five minutes and then cussing me out for daring to suggest we wait for confirmation.
you sure this isnt another instance of scuds actually being frogs etcetera?

Ah Stone is back to his might makes right line.
Joy.
Fun thing to note here Stone is that people in al layers of US politics and economy understand the importance of standardisation, there are reasons perfect economical reasons why roads are a specific size and have a specific makeup, there are reasons why airplane runways have to adhere to certain rules and why the government has strict rules in place with regards to even the sizes of digging machines for instance.

And yes the railsystem IS a big part of this, just do a search on exactly how much cargo gets transported by rail in the US simply becouse truck and airplane would be too expensive.
its not becouse YOU personaly dont need to use rail to go to work that rail is useless, the food you eat, the furniture you use, hell even the fucking cars you drive are often transported by rail, it remains an integral part of US economy and exactly becouse companies didnt think about the future and didnt invest in it in order to have bigger profits to show shareholders in the short term investments werent made in rail and other important infrastructures(like the electricity grid) and when the time comes the eventual cost for you and the economy will be far greater.

BTW Difusion, all I knew was that Stone lived in New York, I wrongfully asumed NYc.
No bigie, I dont however have any problem judging distances.

[Stone]

And yes the railsystem IS a big part of this, just do a search on exactly how much cargo gets transported by rail in the US simply becouse truck and airplane would be too expensive.
its not becouse YOU personaly dont need to use rail to go to work that rail is useless, the food you eat, the furniture you use, hell even the fucking cars you drive are often transported by rail, it remains an integral part of US economy and exactly becouse companies didnt think about the future and didnt invest in it in order to have bigger profits to show shareholders in the short term investments werent made in rail and other important infrastructures(like the electricity grid) and when the time comes the eventual cost for you and the economy will be far greater.

I work in direct contact with the Port of Long Beach, which is a major customer of ours. The Alameda corridor, our local commercial railroad grouping, is currently sitting almost unused because the 701 and the 405 (highways with trucks on them) are better, more effective ways to transport goods. California is likely going to have to start subsidizing the cost of rail transport to get companies to use the Alameda corridor. We ought to have spent the money that we spent on rail (and saving Amtrak, and so on) funding highway improvements, like building a trucks--only highway.

You...don't...know...shit.

important infrastructures(like the electricity grid) and when the time comes the eventual cost for you and the economy will be far greater.

Mention the grid, eh? Let's compare the US with the Europe on infrastructural issues, and yes, I think this is a fair comparison.

The US lets its electrical grid get far enough out of date that it has to deal with a few days of blackout on one corner of the country after a piece of equipment fails.

15,000 French people get killed because of heat, because their people aren't advanced enough to have air conditioners. HEAT. 15,000 Frenchmen, 50 times more people dead than the number of US soldiers dead in Iraq, perhaps as many enemy combatants killed while liberating a country the size of Iraq. Felled by...HEAT.

Socialism's doing wonders for the French infrastructure, right, when 15,000 people French civilians can be slaughtered by...HEAT.

Maybe the country didn't see HEAT coming. It's not like you have to deal with HEAT on a regular basis. "Zut alors! Ve zought this froid thing would keep going! Quoi would have expected chaud?!"

[Spent]

Also, I've been thinking about some of these quality of life comparisons between the US and countries like Norway or Belgium. Do you guys ever think about where the US economy would be if we weren't paying most of the world's defense bill? If we were in the position of a country like Norway or Belgium, which doesn't have to worry about defending itself?

If we could save, maybe, 16% of our GDP, and return it to citizens in the form of tax cuts, or, hell, public works projects? Think about it.



Compare this to the post preceding it. The little story is my understanding of taxes, the above paragraph is Almaci's understanding of taxes. Pacrappa and you deserve each other.

It would be nice if we just didn't need the defense money.... Honestly... we've seen a bunch of different POV in this thread, but no one here is going to steal a plane to prove their point. What the fuck is seriously wrong with people that we need a defense budget. Sickening, really.

[Tracer]

Look at a place like Germany (I think, in any case I read about one European country not too long ago) where they know they have to put in reforms for retirement age because as the population gets older the government will not be able to pay the benefits and everybody knows this and the minute Shroeder says it has to be done the unions flex their muscles and that is the end of the debate.

And the idea of a super-dense nationwide rail system is absurd to me. We already have a wonderfully sound interstate highway system thanks to Eisenhower, no need to sink untold billions into a rail system to do the same damn thing. It's a solution looking for a problem. But then again Stone, you're talking to the guy who couldn't comprehend the distance between New York State (more specifically, Ithaca NY) and New York City. So Im really not surprised that he thinks what works in Belgium will automatically work here.

All I know is that it would work in Texas, but then.. it is the size of most European countries or greater. I think such a thing is needed here at least. Like I said, I'm not fleshing things out, I'm not even actually proposeing such a thing because I know good and well that even if it does work out logistically/financially/beneficially that it would not get done.

[Calliander]

Ah Stone is back to his might makes right line.

Unfortunately, there's nothing to be said when that card is pulled out. Though, it's sort of a scary thing to think of. We're not really supposed to be threatening anyone with our power, we're supposed to be using it for good. That's why I'll never say, "We've got better and more guns, so shut up," even though it's true. It's just not nice.

Naughty, Stone, naughty.

[Tracer]

It would be nice if we just didn't need the defense money.... Honestly... we've seen a bunch of different POV in this thread, but no one here is going to steal a plane to prove their point. What the fuck is seriously wrong with people that we need a defense budget. Sickening, really.

We need a defence budget. I wouldn't places bets on nothing happening even if nothing did, the odds are aginst it and even if odds weren't the cost is too great to bear is something DID happen. Defence is an evetuality that even a nation like Finland endures spending money on.

[Calliander]

"Zut alors! Ve zought this froid thing would keep going! Quoi would have expected chaud?!"

Hehe. You know more French than that, Alain.

[Gohron]

Almaci, the news about the machines wasn't on CNN and maybe on Fox (I really don't watch either) and as for the weapons I remembering reading a few blurbs at the bottom saying things like "30 French Roland Anti-Aircraft Missiles found deployed in Baghdad" I suppose it's no real big deal, but much of the French hardware found in the country had been recently moved in.

[Diff-chan]

Tracer, it would work in Texas, just like it would work in California... in New Jersey there is a great transit system. This summer I used it to go from my home to drinking with my friends in Newark to drinking with my friends in New Brunswick all the time.

But thats thanks to the NJ DOT, not the Federal Government. The Great State of Texas should be the one who recognizes this need and funds the construction of a rail system to benefit Texans.