05/18/2012 4:18:58 pm
Larry I am not USA bashing.
But we need to realize that we are no longer the wealthiest country on earth. Given that fact why are we the world's police force? We need to dismantle our empire and start becoming the right size. The most inefficient and largest government agency is the US military, we need to start cutting there.
I think it is actually unfair to compare us to individual European nations. Sure I mean...
05/18/2012 4:18:05 pm
Mervel,
If you look at Oslo for example this is relatively speaking pretty significant:
Year Muslims Percent
1980 1,006 0.02%
1990 19,189 0.45%
2000 56,458 1.30%
2010 98,953 2.03%
Back when I was last in Oslo then there were not too many.
05/18/2012 4:12:55 pm
Peter, I stand corrected. There has been a lot of immigration of Muslims into those countries over the last decade. I was going with my personal experience there which is not how it is now after looking at some numbers. The hostility does not surprise me. The way they talk about the Germans is bad enough!
05/18/2012 4:08:49 pm
The bizarre thing is even with the recent immigrants the numbers are miniscule compared for example to the numbers of new people that we absorb every year.
05/18/2012 3:51:30 pm
Paul - the scandinavian countries took in many Muslim refugees, and I think there is considerable hostility. That Norwegian psychopath who killed all those liberal children was defending his country from Muslims, among other things.
05/18/2012 3:47:31 pm
OVN, there are basically no Muslims in the Scandinavian countries. There is also a hostility toward other nationalities because they do not want those foreigners coming in an mooching off their system. Once they are sucking on that teat they defend it with vigor. When I lived in France for two years in the early 90s the hostility toward African immigrants was sickening.
05/18/2012 3:13:17 pm
I say again, Larry, glad to hear the debt is no problem and one of YOUR apparent main concerns is that people might have to pay into a health care system that either already is or someday will include them. Sound like a terrible unfair thing to do to people. My God making them pay for something they are going to use. Like it or not!
05/18/2012 3:05:24 pm
Peter is correct. I've seen it endlessly pointed out, and not just in the liberal media-sphere, that Spain (SPAIN IS NOT GREECE!) was running balanced budgets, but was totaled by the real estate bubble. On the ultra-reliable ON POINT this morning it was pointed out that Greece is not in trouble because it had big government programs, but because everybody there wants benefits, and nobody pays taxes.
I haven't...
05/18/2012 2:50:46 pm
and - Larry I was pointing out that Europe is not a simple object lesson about the evils socialism. There are lessons to be learned, but they aren't what you would like them to be.
05/18/2012 2:47:48 pm
Larry in Spain the Euro is definitely the problem. They have a banking problem from a real estate bubble like we had. Banks gave lots of loans because they assumed that the Euro would guarantee they get paid back (in Euros) If the debts were in Spain's own currency, spain could devalue their currency, to become competitive, but they can't. If they could let inflation grow, to devalue the debts - but they can't...
05/18/2012 2:44:06 pm
In my experience visiting these countries (OVN what is your experience?) is that they are fiercely nationalistic. They seem very welcoming of the occasional American visitor (or Yankee as they call us) but they do not care much for their European neighbors. And in the case of Finns and Russians they are borderline hostile. If we want to adopt some of the "benefits" of socialism we also better be ready to defend...
05/18/2012 2:26:29 pm
The skiing isn't good in the Netherlands but there everyone is high!
05/18/2012 2:25:09 pm
Maybe it is because the cross country skiing is so good over there!
05/18/2012 2:24:23 pm
Scandinavian socialism has been a liberal touchstone for decades, but it's not relevant, if it ever was. Secondly, the Euro isn't the problem, at least not in Spain and Greece. Their problems began with governmental over-spending followed by an inability to refinance debt on favorable terms and the resultant banking crisis. How revealing is your comment about the "austerity thing" - spoken like a true liberal who...
05/18/2012 2:23:24 pm
We should probably avoid the Icelandic model!
05/18/2012 2:20:19 pm
I agree that true socialism would be both impossible and undesirable in the U.S.
But, if the argument is that socialist countries cannot be successful, then the questions should be asked,
1. Why do Denmark, Finland, Norway, and the Netherlands have the world's highest level of personal happiness, as measured by this...
05/18/2012 1:43:06 pm
"The most socialist countries – the Scandinavian ones – are the ones doing the best."
Peter, are you suggesting that this country could be run like a Scandinavian county?
Many policies in those countries would make American liberals throw up. First off it would basically require us to throw out everyone that is not a native American. Comparing us to these countries doesn't make any sense.
05/18/2012 1:39:09 pm
"Fair or not, the next president will own the recovery"
I think by the election or later this summer you can maybe make this comment but right now I would not be too confident making this statement.
05/18/2012 1:21:51 pm
Europe has been trying that 'austerity" thing and it has made things much worse. The most socialist countries - the Scandinavian ones - are the ones doing the best. Ireland - which has played by the conservative playbook the longest - low taxes and big cuts to public spending is in terrible shape.
Europe's big problem now seems to be the Euro - a common currency without the rest of the common economic package...
05/18/2012 12:49:25 pm
Zeke,
The debt is no bigger a problem than it ever was and arguably, less of a problem than it has been at times in the past. Check out national debt as a % of GDP in the 1940s and 50s. As for China, they are currently the largest foreign holder of our debt in terms of dollar amount. As a % of their GDP, not so much. TAke a look at Taiwan, Belgium or Hong Kong. One needs to look at these things in perspective...
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