Another Tar Sands "Black eye"!

i said we were self centered. that in no way implies we have a lack of compassion.

we are a nation that has huge differences in ideology from one generation to another.

my Dad was raised in the Depression. he found ways to be happy with what he could provide for himself. he never coveted what others had because he felt that they were simply more talented than him and deserved more out of life.

my generation came from the greatest expansion of goods and services in history. we had a lot more and we were raised on the ideology that no matter what we did today, it would be better tomorrow. if we did not have it now, just wait, it will come to us. iow, there were guaranteed ways of making money.

today's generation was raised on during the greatest technological change in our history. many saw that it was ok, to borrow and buy what we could not afford because it was more important to keep up with technology than figuring out a way to pay for it.

now, there is a problem with all those scenarios, none are self sufficient on their own. we have also fostered a political atmosphere that must cater to every little personal interest and find the money to support those interests. money we do not have. therefore it becomes a balancing act of what we need.

this is where society diverges. we have a set amount of money from taxes to pay for something that amounts to 10 times the cost. whose need is more important? how much money is spent to satisfy say 5% of the population, who makes the decision on how much money to spend on that segment of the population.

so this means we have to raise taxes and justify our reasons for raising them. now lets face it. some reasons are ridiculous and that is said without a single shred of regard for political correctness since i am violating someones inalienable right to something or another.

other reasons for raising taxes are very valid and will benefit the long term well being of the area. but they usually fail as well. nether values like a educated society able to find and maintain a job, pay taxes and therefore "pay it back" ideology is something that does not work because we do school budget on a 2 year cycle (dont flame me for this line if u have no other valid point to make!!) the financial benefits of eduation take YEARS to pay back.

we also have people who have no kids; "my kids are grown, why should i pay for school?"... tell that to the cop when you file that burglary report because some dropout in your neighborhood could not afford to buy food for his children.

 

Huh?

 

Completely agree there. As opposed to most on this forum, I think the United States has moved too far in the socialist direction. I hope that soon GM's IPO and stock price will get the government out of the car business. I have less hope on the US reforming MMS and DOE and congress and getting out of the coal and farming businesses. Even less hope that foreign policy switches to reduce taxes and foreign entaglements to get out of huge offensive military, and moves to a defensive one. How about the government regulating insurance instead of making companies too big to fail and then bailing them out. That is part of government control of the economy too.

Sweden is much further over on the socialist scale than Norway. Since the 90s they have been moving in the freemarket direction. If you can get work, you can get a work permit and live in sweden. There economy has been stedily moving in the right direction, that of freemarkets, and they have been selling off government control of industry.

Norway has a small homogeneous population, over 88% are from a relatively narrow genepool and the population is less than 5 million people. In countries this small it is much easier for the government to be very good or very bad.

Now lets look at the united states, much bigger more diverse population. Much less trusted government. For some in the government bailing out GM and AIG is the public good. Others in the government think expanding the military and invading Iran are in the public good. Others think drilling in anwar or $10/gallon gas taxes and killing off coal are public good. Is it any wonder that the majority of americans don't trust their government to spend their money for them.

Some states do spend for education. More money isn't really a cure. We will see how much more money makes a difference when that capitalist zuckerberg's money floods the NJ school system. See some Americans and capitalists do value education.

In texas we elected the same bad governor. The other party again failed to put up anyone good against him. Many switched parties in the primaries to try to get the governor to lose the primary but that didn't work. So here it is not lack of information, but lack of choice. The govenor is not a bad person, he just has bad policies. But I see you completely agree, more money to the bad politicians to spend will not make the country stronger.

It sounds like you get to win much more often than some of us. The districts here have been so gerrymandered that there really is not much choice. Republicans won, so they get the right to change the districts again, but this time could only be an improvement. When tom delay illegally butted in last time he tried to completely disenfranchise austin, stretching our districts to thin strips across the state.

Somehow oil states do the worst for their people. Alaska although not nearly as well as norway, does much better than most places. Alberta is much worse than alaska, but doesn't get anywhere near the levels of bad as a country like Sudan. I like Indonesian, but refused a consulting gig in Sumatra to Exxon. Sumatran rebels want more of the money to remain on the island and not get shipped off to java. Indonesian army has killed and burred some of these rebels on exxon grounds.

 

Not just the military healthcare, but every single bit of the military is socialized.

Housing, transport, the military chain of command (never step out of line).

A couple common military quotes/slogans:

"An Army of One"
"Never leave a man behind"

Think about it...

 

Its a job, they get paid, they get benefits. I don't get your point.

 

If you define socialism INCORRECTLY as the government owning everything, running everything, and providing for everyone, then the military is socialism. But if you define socialism CORRECTLY as the system where the workers own the means of production, then the military is not socialist at all.

In fact, the military, with its strict top-down chain of command, and the requirement for unquestioned obedience, is more like an absolutist monarchy.

 

See - there ya go throwing facts into the discussion again!